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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23303197">Rough Patches</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/mycarlydotcom/pseuds/mycarlydotcom'>mycarlydotcom</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Funny Business Timeline [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>iCarly</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Christmas, F/M, Holidays</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 13:06:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>20,386</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23303197</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/mycarlydotcom/pseuds/mycarlydotcom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It's supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year, but after a long, lonely month of stress, arguments, accusations, and letdowns, Sam struggles to find any holiday cheer.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Freddie Benson/Sam Puckett</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Funny Business Timeline [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1661167</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Rough Patches</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Setting: It's the holiday season in Seattle, and we pick up with our young couple, Sam and Freddie, just after Thanksgiving, and follow them through to Christmas day. We are following the timeline established in my previous stories: Funny Business, Handing Out L's, and Fishing for Compliments. I urge you to read those first, or to go back and read those afterwards for full effect.</p>
<p>Author's Note: So, here we are, the fourth installment of The Funny Business Timeline. It was originally written in December, hence the holiday theme present, but regardless, it continues the saga started with Funny Business itself. It's the biggest installment from this project yet, and features a ton of easter eggs throughout. Several random character's from old episodes make their presence felt as well, so I hope all the iCarly diehards enjoy that. Lastly, you will find that this is the most vulnerable Sam has been thus far in this project. While I always strive to remain true to Sam Puckett as she is, I really went all in on exploring her feelings and demonstrating her growth as an adult here. </p>
<p>Thanks again to anybody who has been reading my stories, and giving my work the time of day. I cannot understate how much I appreciate it!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter I: “Boyfriend Duty”</strong>
</p>
<p>Freddie grabbed his winter coat off the rack and slipped it on over the sweater he was already wearing. He was one of the last people left in the office he worked at as technical support. It was just past 8 o'clock and the chilling temperatures outside were certain to have dropped even further with the sun going down. While typically a rainy, and dreary city, Seattle often wasn't unbearably cold during the winters, but this holiday season proved to be an outlier, with frigid temperatures coming strong and fast. It was only November but heavy winter jackets, gloves, scarfs, and beanies were already in full effect for the Seattle residents. Slipping on his gloves, Freddie prepared to head out. “Alright, I’ll see ya later,” he said to the receptionist and was immediately acquainted with the harsh wind chill as he pushed open the glass door to the outside. Between all the hours at school and work, the bitter weather served as the cherry on top of his seasonably induced misery, or at least it would have, had he not been greeted with an unexpected surprise. A trendy winter beanie on top of the unmistakable blonde locks of his girlfriend stood off to the side of the door. Leaning up against the wall with her freezing hands buried in her pockets, she raised her eyebrows with an inviting smile.</p>
<p>“Heyyy! Look who it is,” he approached her excitedly.</p>
<p>“Surprise,” she said pulling her hands from her pockets and slightly throwing them up.</p>
<p>Giving her a quick peck, he asked, “What're you doing here?”</p>
<p>“I don't know,” she shrugged. “Freezing. Waiting for you.”</p>
<p>“Sam, this wind is brutal right now,” he said with concern for her.</p>
<p>“Tell me about it,” she joked. “This chiz is ridiculous.”</p>
<p>“Why did you come out in this?” he asked.</p>
<p>“I haven't seen you in a week,” she said innocently, grabbing the lapels of his winter jacket, “I miss you.” He smirked at her reluctant display of affection. “Don't tease me, nub-head,” she gently shoved him.</p>
<p>Freddie was currently home on his Universities' Thanksgiving break, if you could even call it that. He had a few days off from school, but with his families' Thanksgiving dinner and the whole fiasco that was every year, coupled with the hours he was still picking up at work, it hardly felt like a break. Luckily, the worst of his so called ‘break’ was over, as it was Saturday night and his Sunday was free from obligation. Not that he had any exciting plans, but the prospect of lounging around for an entire Sunday before going back to University on Monday sounded more than appealing for him.</p>
<p>“I didn't even get spend the holiday with you,” Sam continued. She had been invited to partake in Freddie's families' festivities, but she opted out because of his mother, who still had not accepted her in the least bit.</p>
<p>“You know, you were invited,” he replied.</p>
<p>“Yeah I know,” she said. “I'm sure your mom had a field day talking chiz about me for not coming.”</p>
<p>Freddie shrugged in acknowledgement.</p>
<p>“Anyway,” she continued, “I know you worked all day, but I'd like to at least hang out with you a little bit before you leave me for another week,” she said, referencing that he'd be back to school come Monday morning. All things considered, his University wasn't that far, about forty minutes without traffic, but their personal schedules were the real conflict, which resulted in them mostly seeing each other on weekends only.</p>
<p>“Well, I have no plans for what's left of this break,” he said.</p>
<p>“So, can I come over or what?”</p>
<p>“Of course, I'd be upset if you didn't,” he smiled, “but I know you know my mom is home.”</p>
<p>“Whatever,” she shrugged. “I don't care, I just want to hang out.”</p>
<p>“Then let's go,” he grabbed her hand and they headed off, braving the frigid temperature. “Probably should've taken the car today,” he joked at the fact that he opted to walk to work that morning.</p>
<p>“Yeah, what the heck were you thinking?” she joked back as they speed walked back to Bushwell Plaza as fast as they could. About twenty minutes later, and practically frozen solid, they staggered into the heated lobby of Bushwell. “Finally,” Sam said as they walked in, “My hands feel like they're gonna fall off.”</p>
<p>“I'll make you some hot chocolate when we get upstairs,” Freddie said.</p>
<p>“You always say the right things,” she joked.</p>
<p>He chuckled. “C'mon,” he led her into the elevator and up to the eighth floor. Once they were outside of apartment 8-D, Freddie slowly cracked open the door and did a brief survey of the room for his mother. “I don’t see her. She's probably in her room,” he whispered to Sam as they crept in. “C'mon, she can't bother you if she doesn't know you're here,” he continued as they snuck her down the hallway into his room. Locking door behind them, he removed his gloves, and threw his jacket onto the floor. “Lucky break, huh?” he joked as he took off his winter layers, but was almost instantly cut off mid-sentence by Sam's lips on his.</p>
<p>She wasted no time making up for the time they hadn't seen each other, barely giving him the chance to remove his winter garb. She draped her arms around his neck, and they stumbled around his room lip locked until she pushed him onto his bed. “Talk later,” she joked as she hopped into the bed with him.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Later that night...</strong>
</p>
<p>Sam was cuddled up next to Freddie as they laid in bed together. With his arm around her, she innocently looked up at him.</p>
<p>“What?” he cutely asked.</p>
<p>“Just missed you,” she reiterated to him with a shy smile.</p>
<p>“It wasn't that long babe,” he joked. “Weekends have been our thing for a while now anyway.”</p>
<p>“Well it felt long,” she shrugged, “especially when I was alone on Thanksgiving.”</p>
<p>“I thought you went to your mom's?”</p>
<p>“Well yeah, I did, but it was just me and her,” Sam replied. “It was hardly a 'Thanksgiving',” she threw up an air quote, “it was more of a me sitting around while she was asleep on the couch type of thing.”</p>
<p>“What about your sister?” Freddie asked.</p>
<p>“She doesn't come home for the occasion anymore,” Sam told him. “She knows it's pointless with how our family is. I don't blame her.”</p>
<p>“I'm sorry babe,” he said, feeling bad for his girlfriend's dreary holiday.</p>
<p>“It's not like it's your fault,” she replied.</p>
<p>“Yeah, but it's not fair that you spent the holiday alone. I shouldn't have gone to my families' and left you by yourself.”</p>
<p>“Don't blame yourself,” she told him. “Like you said before, I was invited, and I chose not to go. Plus, your mom would've had a fit if you no-showed because of me.”</p>
<p>“Guess you're right,” he shrugged.</p>
<p>“And at least I get to see you now,” she smiled. “But this weekend chiz is the worst,” she continued, “I can't wait til we have a place together already.”</p>
<p>“I know, don't worry,” he told her, “It won't be much longer til we do.” They had actually already hit their goal savings amount, but were now struggling with the stress of actually finding a decent place that was affordable. One place in particular had peaked their interest, but there was a waiting list and it was seeming like the call was never coming.</p>
<p>“Good,” she replied with a smirk, “cause I don't know if you realize this, but I kinda, sorta like you a little bit.”</p>
<p>“Oh really?” he chuckled.</p>
<p>“Just a bit,” she joked, “and I'd like to see you more than once a week.”</p>
<p>Smiling, he patted her on thigh, “I know babe,” before sitting up to get out of the bed.</p>
<p>“Where are you going?” she asked.</p>
<p>“To grab a bite to eat,” he said. “You hungry?”</p>
<p>“Very,” she replied.</p>
<p>“Alright,” he said, “be back in a few minutes.”</p>
<p>“Mkay,” she rolled onto her stomach and began scrolling through her pear-phone while she waited. A few minutes later Freddie bumped the door to his room open with his hip while he strolled back into the room with two plates in hand. “Oooh, what do we have here?” Sam curiously asked, catching whiff of the aroma coming from the plates.</p>
<p>“There ya go,” he sat one of the plates on the nightstand beside her.</p>
<p>“What's all this?” she asked. He had prepared her quite the plate of delicious food.</p>
<p>“You didn't think I'd forget to snag you a plate while I was at my families' the other night, did you?” he smiled. “Happy Thanksgiving.”</p>
<p>She bite her lip to hold back the nubby grin fighting its way onto her face. “Happy Thanksgiving nub-head,” she replied. The two shared a small, late night dinner in Freddie's bedroom before laying back down together, practically in a food coma.</p>
<p>“Ughhh, I'm stuffed,” Freddie groaned as his head hit the pillow. “Babe, I think I'm gonna be down for the count after that.”</p>
<p>Sam chuckled. “Feel free to go to sleep, I know you're beat from working all day. I relieve you of boyfriend duty for the rest of the night,” she joked.</p>
<p>He chuckled as he rested his hands on his full stomach.</p>
<p>“You owe me a hot chocolate though,” she poked his arm.</p>
<p>“Oh yeah,” he said. “See you distracted me when we first got in. I was gonna make it.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, yeah,” she waved him off.</p>
<p>“We have stuff to make it if you want some,” he said. “Pretty sure my mom is asleep, so feel free to help yourself at any point.”</p>
<p>“I might just do that,” she replied, and minutes later Freddie was dozing off into a slumber. As he drifted off into unconsciousness, Sam approached his bedroom door, cracking it open to check if his mother was lurking around at all. After inspecting the apartment from his doorway, it had seemed that Freddie was right about his mother having already gone to bed. The apartment was dark except for the subtle light from the kitchen counter that Mrs. Benson usually left on during the night. The coast was clear, and Sam scurried to the kitchen to brew up the hot chocolate.</p>
<p>After preparing herself a nice warm cup, she started back to Freddie's room, but for whatever reason something caught her eye on the short trek. It was the display of family photographs in the living room. Far too often Sam would take refuge from Mrs. Benson in Freddie's room and never come out, so she never really examined this display closely, but it stopped her in her tracks on this night. There was a baby picture of Freddie in the far left corner that she adored for a brief second, as well as cringe worthy picture of him from middle school that gave her a slight chuckle, but neither of those was what had caught her eye. What made her inspect the display to begin with was a noticeably empty space that made everything look incomplete. It was between Freddie's senior portrait from high school, and a recent, group photo of him with his family that included some relatives Sam was unfamiliar with.</p>
<p>“I've been saving that spot for a particular reason,” a voice from behind Sam uttered. “Hopefully I can put a picture of Freddie with a nice girl in that spot one day.”</p>
<p>It gave Sam a small shock, and she quickly turned around to see Mrs. Benson creeping out of the hallway. “Oh,” she replied, “I thought you were asleep.”</p>
<p>“I was,” Mrs. Benson said, “but I heard noise so I came out here to see what it was. Turns out its just lousy Puckett sneaking around my house.”</p>
<p>“I'm not sneaking around,” Sam said defiantly. “You know I'm here with Freddie.”</p>
<p>“Yuck,” Mrs. Benson rudely remarked.</p>
<p>Sam bit her tongue, not wanting to stir up any more tension with his mother. “Okay,” she relented by putting a hand up. “It's your house. I'm sorry,” she said reluctantly.</p>
<p>“I'm sure you are,” Mrs. Benson said sarcastically.</p>
<p>Sam rolled her eyes at his mother's stubbornness. “You know you could put a photo of me and Freddie there, just saying,” she commented about the display, “I am his girlfriend, after all.”</p>
<p>“Unfortunately,” Mrs. Benson quipped.</p>
<p>“What's your deal?!” Sam agitatedly asked, slapping her one free hand to her thigh. “What have I done to you?!”</p>
<p>“What's my deal?” Mrs. Benson asked rhetorically. “My deal is that I'm tired of you ruining my son!”</p>
<p>“Ruining your son?! How exactly am I doing that?” Sam asked bluntly.</p>
<p>“You're nothing more than troublemaker!” Mrs. Benson said.</p>
<p>“I am not!” Sam argued.</p>
<p>“Oh please,” Mrs. Benson shrugged her off. “I know you got into a fight with someone while you were visiting him at school a few weeks ago. That's something a troublemaker would do.”</p>
<p>“What?!” Sam replied in shock. “I don't know how you know about that, but that is not what happened at all.”</p>
<p>“Does it really matter,” Mrs. Benson said sarcastically.</p>
<p>“Yes!” Sam argued. “I didn't get into a 'fight', I was being harassed and I defended myself. That doesn't make me a troublemaker!”</p>
<p>“Whatever,” Mrs. Benson ignored her explanation. “All I know is you've always been a nuisance, and somehow you managed to convince my son otherwise.”</p>
<p>“I didn't 'convince' him of anything,” Sam threw up an air quote, “he's an adult who can make his own decisions.”</p>
<p>“Maybe so, but you do not deserve him,” Mrs. Benson harshly responded.</p>
<p>That comment really ate away at Sam, and her temper was certainly being tested. She gritted her teeth, and clenched her hand into a fist.</p>
<p>“Especially after all juvenile nonsense you put him through over the years,” his mother added.</p>
<p>“So that's it huh? That's why you hate me?” Sam replied, “Because I picked on him when we were younger?”</p>
<p>Mrs. Benson crossed her arms.</p>
<p>“So I pulled some not so nice pranks on him as kids, I'm sorry,” Sam continued, “Let it go!”</p>
<p>Mrs. Benson remained defiant.</p>
<p>“And you know what? I only picked on him because I liked him,” Sam said matter-of-factly. “I'm not saying that makes it okay, but I was kid, I didn't know how to express how I felt. It's totally unfair for you to hold that over me!”</p>
<p>“Well excuse me for not welcoming the bad influence that picked on my son for years into our life with open arms!” Mrs. Benson shot back. “You don't deserve him.”</p>
<p>Sam shook her head. “You know what? You're right,” she conceded, “I don't.”</p>
<p>Mrs. Benson's face slightly grimaced in confusion.</p>
<p>“He's so good to me, and after all I've ever done to him, I absolutely do not deserve it. Do you think I don't realize that?! Well, I do!” Sam went on. “But for whatever reason, he has forgiven me, and he has accepted me, and I'm so grateful that he has. I try my hardest every freakin' day to be the woman that does deserve him. I try so hard. I go to work. I've cleaned up my act. I don't get into trouble,” she counted off on her hand.</p>
<p>Mrs. Benson uncrossed her arms, and became less tense as Sam unloaded this clearly pent up rant.</p>
<p>“I love your son,” Sam vulnerably said outright, “and for some reason, he loves me too. I don't know why, but he does. He makes me happy. He's the only thing that genuinely makes me happy. So maybe I don't deserve him, but if you just give me the freakin' chance, I'll become the woman that does. I swear.”</p>
<p>“That's enough,” a deep voice echoed from behind Mrs. Benson in the hallway. Freddie had overheard the commotion and came out to put a stop to it. “Mom, leave Sam alone,” he said, slipping past her and approaching his girlfriend.</p>
<p>“I'm only out here because I heard a noise,” Mrs. Benson said, “Puckett here is the one yelling.”</p>
<p>“I don't care,” Freddie cut her off. “Just stop.”</p>
<p>Mrs. Benson shook her head, and defiantly stomped off to her room.</p>
<p>Sam was visibly shaken by this confrontation and Freddie could tell. “C'mon,” he grabbed her hand, “why don't you come back to bed?” he suggested. Leading her back to his room, he shut the door behind them. “Sorry, I didn't think she'd hear you and wake up,” he apologized.</p>
<p>Just like earlier, she immediately clung to him as he shut his bedroom door, only this time instead of a kiss, she hugged him tightly and buried her face into the space between his neck and shoulder. He gently caressed her back as he heard the subtle sniffling from the tears she was trying to fight off. Mrs. Benson had certainly rattled Sam this time around.</p>
<p>“You alright?” he asked.</p>
<p>She remained silent, but subtly shook her head 'no' as she continued to hide her face.</p>
<p>“Don't let her get to you,” Freddie said, “she's stuck in her ways.”</p>
<p>“I just want her to like me,” Sam uttered into his chest. “I'm not a bad person. I'm not a troublemaker. I'm not like that anymore. It's not fair.”</p>
<p>“I know babe,” he said gently, “I know.”</p>
<p><strong>Chapter</strong> <strong>II: “Rough Patches”</strong></p>
<p>About or week or so had passed, and Sam tried to forget about the harsh confrontation with Mrs. Benson. It was Thursday evening and after finishing her last babysitting job for the week, she had gone out to do some Christmas shopping. While out and about, she made a stop in the Pear Store thinking a new tech gadget of some sort would make a good gift for Freddie. As she strolled through the store, she browsed all the new devices, but the prices were nothing to scoff at. They must've marked everything up knowing those desperate enough for that perfect gift would be willing to shell out the money.</p>
<p>“Well, if it isn't my old favorite!” a vaguely familiar voice from behind Sam said.</p>
<p>Turning around, she was unenthused to see her old boss Natalie approaching with a smile. “Oh, hey Natalie,” Sam cordially greeted her, pretending she even cared to see her.</p>
<p>“Sam! How are you?” she asked, and without even giving her a chance to respond she started offering Sam a job. “Need a job? I could really use you here. Please come back!”</p>
<p>Caught off guard by the sudden barrage by her old employer, Sam took a step back. “Uhhh, no,” she said bluntly.</p>
<p>“Oh, dang it!” Natalie dramatically kicked the floor in disappointment.</p>
<p>“Looks fully staffed in here to me,” Sam commented at sea of red Pear Store shirts that surrounded her. “Why do you need more employees?”</p>
<p>“They don't know what they're doing,” Natalie threw her crew under the bus. “I don't know what your secret was, but nobody has sold products as well as you did when you worked here.”</p>
<p>“Well sorry to hear about your suck-ish staff,” Sam replied. “It's awfully polite of you to offer, but I don't need a job,” she graciously declined.</p>
<p>“Ughhh,” Natalie groaned, “guess I'm stuck with this ragtag bunch then.”</p>
<p>“Sorry,” Sam shrugged.</p>
<p>“No, it's okay. Sorry to bombard you like that,” she said, “but I had to offer because we've become lowest grossing Pear Store in Seattle! I'm telling ya, it's a struggle.”</p>
<p>“Maybe if you lower some of these crazy prices you guys would sell more,” Sam quipped.</p>
<p>“Well let's not get crazy here,” Natalie replied. “But anyway, what brings you in today?” she switched the topic.</p>
<p>“Oh, just doing a bit of Christmas shopping,” Sam told her, “for Freddie actually.”</p>
<p>“Freddie?” Natalie tilted her head. “That's name sounds familiar.”</p>
<p>“It should, he worked here when I did.”</p>
<p>“Oh! Wasn't he the one I fired right before you uh…?”</p>
<p>“Quit,” Sam bluntly finished her sentence, nodding in confirmation.</p>
<p>“Oh yeah, I remember that guy,” Natalie said. “He couldn't sell a product to save his life, even though he swore he was tech guy. Not a very good worker.”</p>
<p>“Um, excuse you,” Sam said, annoyed by that comment. “He's a great worker.”</p>
<p>“Well his sales certainly didn't reflect that.”</p>
<p>“Well, he is,” Sam reiterated. “He only struggled because I sorta distracted him.”</p>
<p>Natalie dismissively raised her eyebrows.</p>
<p>“You know the only reason I quit was because I thought the way you fired him was total chiz,” Sam continued, “Don't you?”</p>
<p>“I didn't realize you were so close with him. I remember you mentioned dating him once, but you guys were pretty combative when you worked here,” Natalie commented.</p>
<p>“We have rough patches,” Sam told her, “but we happen to be dating again, so do yourself a favor and watch how you talk about him around me.”</p>
<p>“Oh,” Natalie tugged at her collar awkwardly.</p>
<p>“Yeah, 'oh',” Sam sarcastically repeated her.</p>
<p>“I didn't mean to…I was just saying that…” Natalie stumbled over her words.</p>
<p>“You were insulting him,” Sam said.</p>
<p>“Well it was nice seeing you Sam, but I just remembered I have to go take inventory!” Natalie quickly excused herself from Sam's presence.</p>
<p>Sam rolled her eyes.</p>
<p>“Hey,” Natalie pulled one of the employees aside before running off, “this is Sam, she used to work here. Make sure you take care of her, and get her a discount on anything she purchases!”</p>
<p>After Natalie ran off, the employee helped Sam browse some potential gadgets for Freddie, but she didn't commit to any purchases. She considered buying him a Pear Watch, but wanted his opinion before making any rash decisions. “I'm gonna hold off,” Sam told the worker, “Maybe I'll come back.” Exiting the store, she shot Freddie a quick phone call to see if a gift from the Pear Store was even a good idea. It rang a few times before he eventually picked up.</p>
<p>“Yeah babe?” he cutely answered.</p>
<p>“Hey! Quick question,” she said, “if I got you something from the Pear Store for Christmas would you like that?”</p>
<p>“Well yeah, of course,” he replied, “but what're we talking here? I know those Pear Store prices are ridiculous.”</p>
<p>“Well, I was looking at Pear Watches,” she replied. “Would you like one of those?”</p>
<p>“Those are hundreds of dollars. Don't go spending that much on me,” he told her.</p>
<p>“Well I don't know what else to get you.”</p>
<p>“I appreciate the thought babe, but I don't need a present,” he replied.</p>
<p>“No you can't do that,” she argued. ”You can't say you don't want anything and then still get me something. I'll feel guilty.”</p>
<p>“Well then keep whatever you get me in a decent price range so I won't feel guilty about the hole it burns in your pocket,” Freddie argued back.</p>
<p>“Fine, how about Pear-AirPods?” she suggested.</p>
<p>“Even they are ridiculously priced,” he shot those down as well.</p>
<p>“Ughhh,” she groaned, “you're not making this easy Fredbag.”</p>
<p>“Okay, okay, how bout this?” he suggested, “We don't do gifts for each other, and just worry about everyone else.”</p>
<p>“But I actually want to get you something,” she told him. “Plus I'm sure your mom would use that as another reason to label me as a bad girlfriend.”</p>
<p>“Well I'll have your back if she does,” Freddie assured her.</p>
<p>“Uh-huh,” Sam huffed.</p>
<p>“So it's settled then? No gifts for each other?”</p>
<p>“I guess so,” Sam reluctantly agreed.</p>
<p>“Alright then.”</p>
<p>“Anyway, wanna hear something funny?” she pivoted the conversation, “I ran into Natalie while I was in the Pear Store.”</p>
<p>“Ugh,” Freddie groaned. “Hate her.”</p>
<p>“I know right?” Sam agreed. “She tried to offer me a job again.”</p>
<p>“You're kidding?”</p>
<p>“Nope,” Sam told him, “she came over to me and immediately offered. Apparently she has like the lowest grossing store in the region.”</p>
<p>“Well you did have the best sales back when we worked there,” he replied, “not surprising that she'd offer if they're struggling like that.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, she came across as pretty desperate,” Sam chuckled, “but it was a hard pass from me.”</p>
<p>“You know, you probably could get that supervisor position back if you wanted,” he said candidly. “I know babysitting drives you nuts sometimes, could be a nice change.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, but I'd be working on their schedule. At least with babysitting I work my own schedule and have no boss,” she replied. “And besides, I only took the job back in the day to spend more time with you…” Sam admitted.</p>
<p>“Oh really?” Freddie said with a bit of surprise in his voice. ”I never knew that.”</p>
<p>“I know, you were too busy getting mad at me every five minutes to realize it,” she told him. “Nub-head. Why else would I have taken it?”</p>
<p>“Well, I thought you were trying to one up me. You know how we used to be,” he replied.</p>
<p>“I know,” she chuckled. “I'm just teasing you.”</p>
<p>“My point exactly,” Freddie quipped.</p>
<p>“Uh-huh,” she sarcastically replied. “Hey, one more thing before I let you go. What time will you be home tomorrow? And is it cool if we go out or something?” she asked.</p>
<p>“Uhhh,” Freddie hesitated.</p>
<p>“I still feel awkward if I have to be around your mom after last week,” Sam casually continued.</p>
<p>“Well I actually won't be home babe,” he told her.</p>
<p>“Huh? What do you mean?” she asked in confusion.</p>
<p>“I mean I'm staying at school this weekend.”</p>
<p>“Wait, so you're just blowing me off?” she asked, somewhat offended.</p>
<p>“No, I'm just swamped with school work,” he explained, “I thought I might be able to focus better if I stayed up here this week.”</p>
<p>“Oh, I didn't realize I was that big a distraction,” she commented.</p>
<p>“I didn't mean it like that babe,” he replied. “If I come home I'd be running around all weekend.”</p>
<p>“Why would you be running around?”</p>
<p>“Well for one, you don't want to be near my mom right now, so I'd be jumping back and forth between her place and wherever you're at,” he explained.</p>
<p>“Spencer's,” Sam bluntly responded to him. “I'm almost always at Spencer's. You know that. It's right across the hall.”</p>
<p>“My point still stands,” he argued. “Not to mention driving all the way down there and then back up here afterwards is a hassle.”</p>
<p>“But you still have to drive down here for work though,” she argued. “I know you have work Saturday.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, but you're babysitting,” he replied, “so I took a double-shift thinking you wouldn't even be free on Saturday.”</p>
<p>“Wrong,” she said. ”My client for Saturday canceled.”</p>
<p>“How was I supposed to know that?” he asked.</p>
<p>“Either way, what's stopping you from coming by afterwards on Saturday night?” she continued.</p>
<p>“Nothing,” he said. “I'm just thinking it'll be easier if I just drive back here afterwards instead of wasting my Sunday morning doing that.”</p>
<p>“Wasting huh?” she repeated him. “Ouch.”</p>
<p>“I didn't mean it like that,” he explained again.</p>
<p>“Okay,” she short answered him.</p>
<p>“Babe, it's the end of the semester. I'm just worried about staying on top of my school work.”</p>
<p>“Alright then.”</p>
<p>“You know I want to see you. I just really have to focus right now,” he continued to explain himself.</p>
<p>“I get it,” she said with a bit of tone.</p>
<p>“You're mad at me,” he said.</p>
<p>“No,” she argued, “I just miss you. This means I have to wait another week to see you.”</p>
<p>“I know, I'm sorry. The end of this semester is killing me though,” he tried to make her see where he was coming from.</p>
<p>“Freddie, I'm not mad,” she insisted. “It sucks, but I understand.”</p>
<p>“You sure?”</p>
<p>“Yes,” she said bluntly. “Get your work done. I know it's important.”</p>
<p>“Thanks babe, I owe you one,” he said.</p>
<p>“You owe me a hot chocolate too,” she quipped.</p>
<p>He chuckled. “Well alright, guess I'll talk to you later then. Love you,” he said.</p>
<p>“Mhm,” she replied unenthusiastically. Hanging up the phone, she disappointedly let out a sigh. <em>“Strange…”</em> she thought to herself, Freddie never made excuses like that to not come see her. It didn't matter if he had to study, if he had a huge test coming up, if it was the end of the semester, or if he had work, he never blew Sam off, ever. She felt somewhat uneasy about it, and hoped it wasn't anything to worry about. Trying not to overthink things, she slipped her phone in her pocket and walked over to her motorcycle to head home.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Chapter III: “Christmas in the Sky”</strong>
</p>
<p>After a long day of babysitting followed by Christmas shopping, Sam strolled down the eighth floor corridor to apartment 8-C. She whipped out the spare key given to her by Spencer, and unlocked the door to let herself in.</p>
<p>“What?! Who's there?!” an alarmed Spencer blurted out as she entered the loft.</p>
<p>“Just me,” Sam replied as she noticed him standing on a ladder, and as you might expect, doing something completely abnormal. He had a Christmas tree dangling upside down from the ceiling, and was attempting to decorate it.</p>
<p>“Sam?” he asked, his back still to the door as he was atop the ladder.</p>
<p>“Yep,” she tossed her bags on the couch. “What the heck are you doing?”</p>
<p>“Uhhh, decorating the tree…” he said as if it was totally normal.</p>
<p>“And why do you have the tree hanging from the ceiling?”</p>
<p>“It's art. Duh!” he replied condescendingly.</p>
<p>“Sure...” she sarcastically replied.</p>
<p>“I call it, Christmas in the Sky!” he continued before he suddenly started to lose his balance. “Whoa! Whoa!” he exclaimed repeatedly as the ladder began teetering, and the next thing he knew he was plummeting to the floor. “Ahhhhh!” his voice traveled with him on the way down. “Ouch,” he let out a groan of pain as he laid on the floor.</p>
<p>“See that's why most people keep their tree on the floor,” Sam commented as she put her hand out to help him up.</p>
<p>“It was worth it,” he replied, sounding like the wind had been completely knocked out of him. After Sam helped him to his feet, he regained his composure and beheld his work. “Say what you want, but my sky tree is cool,” he boasted with pride.</p>
<p>Sam chuckled at the goofball as she walked to the kitchen to grab a Wahoo Punch.</p>
<p>“So, where have you been?” Spencer asked as he plopped onto his couch. “It's been quieter without you here the past few days.”</p>
<p>“I spent a few days at my mom's,” Sam leaned onto the kitchen counter with her beverage in hand. “I got into it pretty bad with Freddie's mom last week. I avoided coming here to avoid her.”</p>
<p>“What happened?” he asked.</p>
<p>“I don't know,” Sam shrugged. “After I left here last Friday, I met up with Freddie and spent the night across the hall. Guess that was a bad idea cause I got into an argument with his mom, and it wasn't pretty.”</p>
<p>“Over what?”</p>
<p>“Same old,” Sam said bluntly. “She hates me, and I lose my temper over it.”</p>
<p>“Why do keep going over there if you two hate each other?”</p>
<p>“I don't hate her,” Sam corrected him. “She hates me. I try to be friendly.”</p>
<p>“Regardless, why do you keep putting yourself through that?”</p>
<p>“Because,” Sam groaned, “I actually want her to like me…” she said, shyly tinkering with the top of the Wahoo Punch can. “I know she is overbearing, but she's still Freddie's mother, and I hate knowing my boyfriend's mother can't stand me.”</p>
<p>“Have you told her that?”</p>
<p>“I've tried,” she said, “she just won't budge.”</p>
<p>Spencer could see how bad Sam was bothered by this. The contrast between the women at his kitchen counter and feisty blonde headed girl that befriended his little sister as kids was striking. She really had changed with age, at least in some ways, he thought. Sure, she retained her quirks like loving fried chicken, and carrying around a butter-sock, but she was no longer the troublemaker so many people still pegged her as; heck, she hadn't actually used the butter-sock on someone in god knows how long. Since returning to Seattle she had grown up so much. She had learned the importance of responsibility. She had matured.</p>
<p>“Hey, don't worry about it kiddo,” Spencer told her as he got up and walked over to the kitchen counter, “You've done your part, and that's all you can do.” He sat on the stool across from her. “If Mrs. Benson doesn't see that you've grown into a responsible adult then whatever. She’ll either come around at some point or hate you forever, but Freddie is always gonna love you, and that's what really matters.”</p>
<p>Sam smiled, “Thanks Spence.”</p>
<p>He nodded in response. “Speaking of Freddie, got any cool gifts for him in these bags over here?” he asked walking back over to the couch and peaking in the bags.</p>
<p>“Hey!” she quickly ran over and swatted his hand away from them, “No peeking!”</p>
<p>“Ouch!” he pulled his hand away. “Why can't I see?”</p>
<p>“Cause I have a gift for you in there genius,” she told him.</p>
<p>“You got me something?” he asked.</p>
<p>“Of course,” she said. “Why wouldn't I? It's the least I can do. You let me live here rent free whenever I want.”</p>
<p>“Awww,” he playfully poked her arm, “look at you being all sweet.”</p>
<p>“Don't be a nub-head,” she deadpanned him, pushing his finger away. He laughed.</p>
<p>“So, any cool gifts for Freddie though?” he asked again.</p>
<p>“No,” Sam told him. “I was gonna get him something from the Pear Store but he insisted that I don't spend that much on him. We ended up agreeing not to do gifts for each other.”</p>
<p>“No gifts?!” Spencer said dramatically. “That's lame.”</p>
<p>“Hey, it was his idea,” Sam shrugged. “I wanted to buy him something.”</p>
<p>“I'll talk some sense into him tomorrow,” Spencer joked.</p>
<p>“Well he's not coming home this weekend,” Sam said disappointedly, “so you can't.”</p>
<p>“Why not?” Spencer asked. “Freddie always comes home on the weekends.”</p>
<p>“I know,” she replied. “He said he had a lot of work to do so he's staying at school for the weekend to 'focus',” she said with air quotes.</p>
<p>“Hmmm,” Spencer curiously reacted. “That's weird.”</p>
<p>Sam raised her eyebrows in acknowledgment as she walked back over to the counter. “Honestly, he was being weird when I talked to him earlier.”</p>
<p>“How so?”</p>
<p>“I don't know,” she shrugged, “our conversation just felt off, towards the end at least. I don't know how to explain it.”</p>
<p>“And when was that?”</p>
<p>“About two hours ago, maybe,” she shrugged.</p>
<p>“Why don't you call him again? Or text him if he's too busy to talk.”</p>
<p>“I have,” Sam lightly thumped the counter with the palm of her hand. “He hasn't responded yet. I don't want to keep bugging him, but I have a weird feeling about it.” She ran a hand through her hair and sighed, “I just hope everything is alright.”</p>
<p>“Maybe he's stressed out,” Spencer suggested. “I know you are.”</p>
<p>She chuckled to make light of that fact. “You can say that again.”</p>
<p>“Well since Freddie's not gonna be here do you feel like hanging with me this weekend? I could use some help decorating the tree, and the rest of the place.”</p>
<p>“Sure,” Sam agreed as she took another swig of Wahoo Punch, “but I'm not getting on that ladder for your 'sky tree' thing,” she joked.</p>
<p>“You don't appreciate its uniqueness,” he joked back as he stood underneath it, admiring his own work again.</p>
<p>She chuckled. “Man, I'm starving.”</p>
<p>“I was gonna order a pizza before you got home,” Spencer told her. ”Wanna go half on one?”</p>
<p>“Now you're speaking my language,” she replied.</p>
<p>Pulling out his pear-phone, Spencer dialed up Omar's Pizza. “Yeah, can I place an order for delivery? It'll be to Bushwell Plaza for Spencer Shay.” As he began to tell the phone operator his order a sudden snap echoed through the apartment and the tree came crashing down right on top of him. The wire holding it had broken.</p>
<p>Remaining stoic, Sam sarcastically commented, “I think we should keep the tree on the floor,” as he laid underneath his fallen masterpiece.</p>
<p>Groaning in pain, he lifted his head from the floor and looked up at her in agreement from underneath the branches. Putting his phone back to his ear he said, “Yeah, so one large pepperoni pizza. Thank you,” before hanging up and laying his head back down in defeat.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Chapter IV: A Little Boy Named Connor</strong>
</p>
<p>It was the following Friday, and Sam was in midst of her last babysitting job for the week. The numerous stressful jobs she had dealt with all week long had definitely taken their toll on her, but luckily this last one wasn't too difficult; it was actually quite the opposite. She was watching a little boy named Connor, and unlike most of the rambunctious little twerps she usually got saddled with, he was well-behaved and an all-around joyful kid.</p>
<p>“Connor? Connor?” Sam said repeatedly as she scoured the house in search of him. She had gone to the bathroom for a second and within that short window of time, he ended up wandering off. “Connor? Where'd you go?”</p>
<p>“I'm in here!” an innocent voice yelled from the play room down the hall.</p>
<p>“What're you doing?” Sam approached the doorway and found him digging through his toy chest.</p>
<p>“Getting my trains!” he said excitedly as he yanked a smaller container out from the chest causing several other toys to spill out.</p>
<p>“Oh, you like trains?” Sam asked as she walked over to him and crouched down. “My boyfriend Freddie has some cool trains!”</p>
<p>“He does?!” his excitement grew.</p>
<p>“Mhm!” Sam shook her head. “He has really cool remote control ones. He even used to be in a club for it.”</p>
<p>“Whoa! Cool! He's in a club?!”</p>
<p>Sam smiled at his excitement. “Well he used to be a long time ago,” she told him, “but I accidentally got him kicked out.”</p>
<p>“How?” he asked curiously.</p>
<p>“I crashed one of his trains and broke it, and he got kicked out for it.”</p>
<p>Gasping dramatically, Connor asked, “You're not gonna break my trains right?!” with worry.</p>
<p>“No, of course not,” Sam comforted him.</p>
<p>“Yay! Thank you!” he exclaimed as he hugged her.</p>
<p>Sam couldn't help but smile at how sweet this little boy was. His exuberant personality and imagination was infectious, and for the first time Sam was actually enjoying her job as a babysitter. As he pulled out more trains, it warmed her heart to see how excited he was to simply play with his toys. In a way, she envied how carefree he was, wishing things were that simple for her sometimes.</p>
<p>“Will you play trains with me?” he turned back to her.</p>
<p>“Can I?” she cutely asked him back.</p>
<p>“Yeah!” he replied ecstatically. “Here, let's set up a track,” he said as he pulled out a few more pieces.</p>
<p>“Okay, you show me what to do and we'll build the best track ever,” Sam told him.</p>
<p>“But we can't build the best track ever!” he insisted.</p>
<p>“Why not?” she asked.</p>
<p>“Because I saw a new train set at the toy store, and we need that to make the best one ever!”</p>
<p>“Ohhhh,” Sam replied. “Well, you know what is coming up right? Maybe you'll get it for Christmas.”</p>
<p>“I hope!” he exclaimed.</p>
<p>“Did you ask Santa?”</p>
<p>“Uh-huh!” he vigorously shook his head up and down.</p>
<p>Sam chuckled at his excitement. “What train set is it?” she asked him.</p>
<p>He proceeded to tell her the name of the train set, and then they got lost in a playful conversation about what other cool toys he wanted he wanted for Christmas. As Sam sat on the floor discussing Christmas presents and playing trains with him, her phone rang. “Oh, hold on Connor,” she told him, it was his parents calling. She stood up and walked over to the doorway to answer it. He continued to play with his trains in the background as Sam spoke with his parents on the phone. “Yeah, I can do that. No don't worry, it's no problem at all. Uh-huh. Sounds good. Alright. Bye,” her side of the conversation echoed into the hallway.</p>
<p>Connor's parents were at a Christmas party, and had called Sam to ask if she'd be willing watch him a little longer while they stay out. She graciously accepted as she was actually having fun watching him. After getting off the phone with his parents, she quickly dialed Freddie knowing he'd be home and wondering where she was.</p>
<p>“Hey babe,” he answered.</p>
<p>“Hey!” she greeted him.</p>
<p>“Whatsup?”</p>
<p>“Nothing, babysitting. Ya know, same old,” she said.</p>
<p>“Sounds fun,” he joked.</p>
<p>“Well, actually yeah,” she told him. “I'm not gonna lie, I actually kinda like the kid I'm watching tonight.”</p>
<p>“Wow, that's a first huh?”</p>
<p>“I know right?” she acknowledged, “but yeah, his name is Connor, he's my little buddy. He's awesome.”</p>
<p>“Uh-oh, sounds like I got some competition,” he joked.</p>
<p>“Well, he is pretty charming,” she joked back.</p>
<p>Freddie laughed.</p>
<p>“He loves trains. I told him about your trains and the club you used to be in and he got all excited,” Sam explained.</p>
<p>“That's cute,” Freddie said. “Don't go setting up his trains to crash into each other though,” he jokingly remarked.</p>
<p>She chuckled. “But hey, I called to let you know that his parent's asked if I could watch him a few more hours. They're gonna pay me extra, plus I don't mind hanging with this little guy a bit longer, so I said it was cool” she told him.</p>
<p>“Extra money in your pocket,” he said.</p>
<p>“Mhm,” she acknowledged, “but it'll be pretty late when I'm done. Are you gonna be up, or should I just come over? I doubt your mom would want me just walking in after our little argument.”</p>
<p>“Uhhh, yeah,” his voice trailed off.</p>
<p>“Yeah, what?” she asked curiously.</p>
<p>“I'm kinda, sorta not at my mom's right now,” he told her.</p>
<p>“Then where are you?” she asked, having assumed he was already home.</p>
<p>“I'm still at school,” he revealed to her.</p>
<p>“What? It's Friday night, why are you still at school?” she asked.</p>
<p>“Same as last week,” he said bluntly.</p>
<p>“What?! Freddie c'mon,” she said disappointedly. “So you're not gonna be home at all this weekend? Again?”</p>
<p>“It's not that I don't want to,” he told her, “I'm just really stressing out over everything I have to do, and if I start slacking now it could really come back to bite me.”</p>
<p>She groaned in his ear as he explained himself. “And you waited until I called you on the day I thought you'd be here to tell me you wouldn't be?” she asked agitatedly.</p>
<p>“Well, I was worried you be upset,” he admitted, “and it sounds like I was right to think that.”</p>
<p>“I'm more upset that you waited til the last minute to let me know,” she said bluntly. “What if I never called you? Were you even gonna tell me?”</p>
<p>“Of course, I just…”</p>
<p>“Whatever,” she cut him off.</p>
<p>“Sam, c'mon.”</p>
<p>“No, this is two weeks in a row that you're leaving me alone out of blue,” she said, “so sorry if I'm a little upset.”</p>
<p>“I know, I know,” he replied. “I promise I'm gonna make it up to you, but I really need you to understand where I'm coming from.”</p>
<p>“Freddie, I understand where you're coming from, but it's not like I'm not stressed out too,” she told him. “Work is a freakin' pain. Today aside, all the jobs I've worked over the past two weeks have been nightmares, but I sucked it up and dealt with it.”</p>
<p>“And me still being here at school because I'm loaded with work instead of being home with you is me 'sucking it up' and dealing with it” he argued, “It's the same thing.”</p>
<p>“Is it?” she questioned him. “I get that I'm not the one in the classrooms, but you've always been able to manage your time very well. I don't get why this year is any different,” she said. “I don't get why you can't just study here like you normally do anyway.”</p>
<p>“You're not wrong,” he agreed, “but like I said last week, it is I just easier for me if I wasn't running back and forth between school and home. I thought you'd understand because I know you're just as stressed as I am.”</p>
<p>Sam huffed. Something was off, and she had that uneasy feeling again. Perhaps it was that stress Freddie had just mentioned, and maybe she was expecting too much of him. Perhaps she was being paranoid. After a brief silence between them, Sam relented. “Alright, fine. I get it,” she said. “If you really feel like it's easier for you to stay at school again, I get it. I just would prefer some heads up when you're gonna do something like that. I thought you'd be here tonight, and you won’t be. This is two straight weeks that you blew me off last minute, that's not cool.”</p>
<p>“You're right, and that was inconsiderate of me,” he admitted. “I'm sorry.”</p>
<p>“Mkay,” she accepted his apology.</p>
<p>“So, are we good now?” he asked.</p>
<p>She huffed again, “Yes, we're good nub-head.”</p>
<p>“Good.”</p>
<p>“But since you're not coming home, you can at least text me every once in a while,” she commented.</p>
<p>“I know, I was bad with that this week,” he said.</p>
<p>“Uh, yeah,” she said bluntly, “you took four hours the other day just to say 'haha nice.' I know you're busy, but c'mon.”</p>
<p>“I'll do better,” he assured her. “Thank you for understanding babe.”</p>
<p>“Mhm,” she acknowledged. “We'll I gotta get back to my new friend over here, so I’m gonna let you go,” she said, referring to Connor playing with his trains on the floor.</p>
<p>“Okay, I'll text you later. Love you,” he said.</p>
<p>“Yeah, yeah,” she joked.</p>
<p>“See ya.”</p>
<p>“Bye,” she hung up. The uneasy feeling was still there. She didn't want to assume anything, but the truth was she felt like Freddie was hiding something. There had been plenty of times in the past where Freddie had been loaded with school work just like he was now, but he still came home, and he'd just study while Sam was around. To blow her off without warning, twice for that matter, was incredibly uncharacteristic of him, and it made her nervous. She wondered if it had anything to do with the argument she had with his mother. Was he mad at her about something? She felt confused, and even worse than that, lonely. On top of blowing her off, Freddie had hardly spoken to her in general for the entire week, and that only fed the feeling of uneasiness she had. What the heck could possibly be going on?</p>
<p>Worried about what everything meant, Sam stood in the hall with her head leaning against the frame of the doorway. All she could do was hope she was overthinking, and that he really was just dealing with a lot at school. As she stood in silence, she felt a tug on the leg of her jeans. She looked down and found that Connor had made his way over to her.</p>
<p>“Why do you look sad?” he asked, looking up at Sam.</p>
<p>Looking down at her new found buddy, she smiled. “My boyfriend doesn't wanna hangout with me,” she said in a halfway joking fashion.</p>
<p>“The one who likes trains?”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” she replied.</p>
<p>“Why not? Doesn't he know you're like super cool?” Connor cutely said to her.</p>
<p>“I don't know,” Sam played along, “I guess not.”</p>
<p>“We'll tell him I said he needs be nice to you,” he playfully demanded. “Okay?”</p>
<p>“Okay,” Sam chuckled at his chivalrous demand. “At least you like me,” she said as she grabbed his hand and walked him back over to the trains they had out. “C'mon, let's build a train track.”</p>
<p>
  <strong>Chapter V: “One Word Texts”</strong>
</p>
<p>Sam strolled down the eighth floor corridor on her way back to Spencer's after watching Connor. As she came around the corner she found herself face to face with Mrs. Benson who was exiting her apartment.</p>
<p>“Oh jeez!” Mrs. Benson suffered a quick scare at the suddenness of Sam coming around the corner. Taking a step back to regain her composure she awkwardly said, “Hello, Sam.”</p>
<p>“Hi,” Sam replied unenthusiastically as she reached for the door knob of apartment 8-C.</p>
<p>“Haven't seen you in a few weeks,” Mrs. Benson commented, “it's almost like you've been avoiding me.”</p>
<p>Turning back to face Mrs. Benson, Sam sarcastically commented, “Wouldn't you prefer that anyway?”</p>
<p>“Well then,” Mrs. Benson rolled hers eyes in offense.</p>
<p>Sam could've made a witty, smart aleck remark in response, but she opted to refrain engaging in another verbal sparring session with Mrs. Benson. That's exactly what she would expect 'lousy Puckett,' to do anyway, so she thought better of it. Instead, Sam just questioned why the heck she was leaving her house so late. “It's after 10 o'clock, where the heck are you going?”</p>
<p>“The malls are open later for the season,” Mrs. Benson explained. “I have a few more things I need to get for Christmas.”</p>
<p>Sam gave an unenthusiastic head nod in response, and an awkward silence befell them.</p>
<p>“Well, goodnight I guess,” Mrs. Benson broke the tension.</p>
<p>Still wondering if the argument with his mother a few weeks back might’ve been why Freddie had been acting strange, Sam considered apologizing. “I'm sorr...” she began to say, but quickly stopped herself. What the heck was she apologizing for? She thought. It was Mrs. Benson that always made the rude remarks, and said hurtful things. Why should Sam apologize?</p>
<p>“What?” Mrs. Benson curiously replied.</p>
<p>“Nothing,” Sam shook her head as she opened the door to Spencer's, “don't worry about it. Enjoy your night,” and she shut the door behind her.</p>
<p>“Ughhh,” Mrs. Benson groaned to herself in the hallway. “I actually try to talk to her for once, and she slams a door in my face,” she thought, before stomping off in huff.</p>
<p>Meanwhile on the other side of the door of apartment 8-C, Spencer greeted Sam as she walked in. “Sup?”</p>
<p>“Holy chiz!” Sam dramatically replied as she entered the apartment and saw the new sculpture he was working on. It was a giant Santa hat, similar in size to the giant pants he made with those prisoners several years back.</p>
<p>“Do you like my giant Santa hat?” Spencer asked proudly.</p>
<p>“Well it depends. There's not a bunch of prisoners hiding underneath it right?” she joked.</p>
<p>“Nope,” he replied, “wait,” he peaked underneath the hat to be sure, okay, no.”</p>
<p>Sam chuckled.</p>
<p>“So, how was work?” he pivoted topics.</p>
<p>“Fun, believe it or not,” she told him.</p>
<p>“That's too bad…” he started to say before realizing what she had said. “Wait, did you say fun?” he asked, confused.</p>
<p>“Mhm,” she confirmed. “For once I actually had a babysitting job with a kid I enjoyed watching.”</p>
<p>“Never thought I'd hear that,” he replied.</p>
<p>“I know, crazy right?” Sam agreed, “But he was a sweet little boy. I wish more of my jobs were like that.” She then kicked off her shoes and plopped onto the couch.</p>
<p>“Not going to meet Freddie?” he asked as he noticed her getting comfortable.</p>
<p>“Nope,” she said bluntly.</p>
<p>“Why?”</p>
<p>“The nub-head blew me off again.”</p>
<p>“Blew you off? What, did he stay at school for the weekend again?”</p>
<p>“Uh-huh,” Sam confirmed.</p>
<p>“Wow, guess he must really have a lot of work to do,” he commented.</p>
<p>“He must,” Sam sarcastically raised her eyebrows.</p>
<p>“Uh-oh, that wasn't a happy response,” Spencer said.</p>
<p>“Could you tell?” she replied with more sarcasm.</p>
<p>“Alright, what's going on?” Spencer asked, sitting down on the couch with her.</p>
<p>“Wish I knew,” Sam said. “Freddie is being weird, and I don't like it.”</p>
<p>“What's he doing? Aside from not coming home I mean?”</p>
<p>“I don't even know,” Sam continued. “He's hardly talked to me all week. Then when I called him tonight he said he wasn't coming home again.”</p>
<p>“Well I'm sure he's busy,” Spencer said.</p>
<p>“I know he is,” Sam acknowledged, “but something isn't right.”</p>
<p>“How so?”</p>
<p>“It's just that Freddie never acts like this,” she explained. “He could have five major exams in one week and a bunch of double-shifts scheduled at work, and he would still normally make time for me. Always.”</p>
<p>“Don't you think it’s a little unfair to just expect that of him though?” Spencer replied.</p>
<p>“Maybe it is,” Sam agreed, “but I'm more worried about if he's telling the truth.”</p>
<p>“So you think he's not telling you something,” Spencer said.</p>
<p>“I know he isn't.”</p>
<p>“You should probably say that then,” Spencer said. “It's not good to run from the problem if there is one.”</p>
<p>“I don't want to upset him though,” she replied.</p>
<p>“So you're just allowing yourself to be upset instead?”</p>
<p>“I don't know Spence,” she slouched into the couch. “I just miss him.”</p>
<p>“Well, you're still just assuming he's hiding something,” Spencer said. ”What if he isn't? What if he really is just that busy? It is the end of the semester after all, plus its Christmas time.”</p>
<p>Sam remained silent.</p>
<p>“He probably misses you too.”</p>
<p>“It doesn't feel that way when he ghosts me like he has for the last week,” Sam's voice cracked. “When I called him earlier that was the first actual conversation we had all week. Other than that, it's been one word texts from him, and he's barely even done that.”</p>
<p>“Well don't overthink it,” Spencer told her, “but if you really believe there is a problem, you need to address it.”</p>
<p>“I'm afraid that I might find out something I don't want to though,” Sam admitted.</p>
<p>“You won't,” Spencer tried to assure her. ”Look, if I know Freddie the way I think I do, then you have nothing to be worried about.”</p>
<p>“Ughhh,” she groaned. “I hope your right.”</p>
<p>As the two of them sat on the couch, there was a sudden knock on the door which was followed up by the person letting themselves in.</p>
<p>“Gibbbbay!” echoed from out in the hallway as their peculiar friend entered the Shay loft.</p>
<p>“Heyyyy Gibby!” Spencer greeted him. “It's been a minute, where have you been lately?”</p>
<p>“Oh you know, just doing my thang,” he replied in Gibby-like fashion.</p>
<p>“Still attending those bathrooms at the Groovy Smoothie?” Sam chimed in from her slouched position on the couch.</p>
<p>“You know it!” he said.</p>
<p>“So how goes it? Whatsup?” Spencer asked.</p>
<p>“I actually came by with some invites,” he told them.</p>
<p>“Invites for what?” Sam asked.</p>
<p>“T-Bo is letting me having a little Christmas shindig at the shop after we close on Christmas Eve. Here,” he said, handing them their invitations.</p>
<p>“Come one, come all to 'Gibby's Groovy Smoothie Holiday Bash',” Sam read aloud from the invitation.</p>
<p>“It'll be from 8 o’clock to midnight,” he told them excitedly.</p>
<p>“Ahhh, Gib, I can't make it,” Spencer said to him.</p>
<p>“Why not?” Gibby shrugged in offense.</p>
<p>“I'm going to Yakima on Christmas Eve,” he replied. ”I promised my grandparents I'd spend the Holiday with them.”</p>
<p>“That's whack,” Gibby said.</p>
<p>“Don't worry, Gib,” Sam interrupted, “I'll swing by.”</p>
<p>“Now that's the spirit!” he said excitedly. “Hey make sure Freddie knows too,” he continued, handing Sam an extra invitation.</p>
<p>“I'll tell him,” Sam replied. “Hopefully he comes home,” she commented sarcastically to Spencer.</p>
<p>“Whatever that means,” Gibby said. ”Anyway, I gotta head back to the Groovy Smoothie, I came over here on my break.”</p>
<p>“Alright Gib,” Spencer said. “See ya later,” Sam added.</p>
<p>“Gibbbbayyy,” echoed through the halls as he exited the apartment.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Chapter VI: “Bad Boyfriend”</strong>
</p>
<p>Yet another stressful week had gone by, and Christmas was only five days away. Sam's lonely December had practically drained her, and she wanted nothing more than to just see Freddie. That was all she needed. It was all she cared about. It was Friday, and having finally finished up the winter semester, he was expected to be home that night. Coming back from another exhausting babysitting job that made her miss watching Connor the previous week, Sam pulled her motorcycle into the parking lot of Bushwell Plaza. As she parked her bike, she saw that Freddie's car was already there, and a big smile manifest on her face. He was home. She was slightly nervous about how she had been feeling the past few weeks, but in the moment her excitement got the best of her. Wasting little time, she bolted into the apartment building and speed walked over to the elevator, repeatedly tapping the button to call it to the lobby floor. Once on the eighth floor, she darted down the hall and eagerly came around the corner to apartment 8-D. Peculiarly enough, she was just in the nick of time to catch Freddie, who was on his way out.</p>
<p>“Hey!” she said excitedly, catching him off guard as his back was turned while locking the door.</p>
<p>“Oh!” he jumped slightly at the shock. “Sam, hey,” he said awkwardly.</p>
<p>Her excitement quickly turned to confusion once she noticed he seemed to be leaving, and had his jacket on. “Are you going somewhere?”</p>
<p>“Oh, uhhh,” he hesitated, “yeah, I was gonna uh…”</p>
<p>“Gonna what?” she asked. “Don't tell me you're about leave me hanging again.”</p>
<p>“No, no,” he quickly replied, “I just had an errand I needed to run. I was gonna try to squeeze it in before you got home. Didn't think you'd be home this quickly.”</p>
<p>“Errand? What errand?” she questioned him. “It can't be school related, you finished up the semester early today.”</p>
<p>“No, I'm finally done with that. Thankfully,” he said with relief. “I gotta do something else. Hopefully it doesn't take too long.”</p>
<p>“Well, can I come with?” she asked.</p>
<p>“Ummm,” he hesitated again, and Sam picked up on it, shooting him a very suspicious look.</p>
<p>“What?” her face grimaced. “I can't tag along?”</p>
<p>“Well,” he continued with his hesitant responses.</p>
<p>“What errand are you running that I can't be there for?” she questioned. “That makes me feel like…” but this time Sam hesitated. “You know what? Forget it,” she waved him off, “Just go do whatever you gotta do. I'll be here when you're done.” She turned away from Freddie and went to unlock Spencer's door.</p>
<p>“Sam,” he said with concern.</p>
<p>“Just go,” she reiterated to him as she opened the door. “It's just one errand right? I'll be here when you're done.”</p>
<p>Freddie trailed behind her into Spencer's apartment, who wasn't home at the time. He was out doing some last minute Christmas shopping of his own. “Sam, don't be upset,” he told her.</p>
<p>“Upset?” she replied, turning back to face him. “Why would I be upset?” she continued sarcastically, “Because my boyfriend has bailed on me two weeks in a row? Or because he has practically ghosted me to the point where I rarely get a text? Or because I finally get to see him after three weeks, and now he's saying he has to 'run an errand' that he won't tell me about. Hmmm, why on earth would I be upset?!”</p>
<p>“It's not that I don't want to tell you. I just…”</p>
<p>“Just what?” she cut him off. “What're you hiding from me?”</p>
<p>“Nothing,” he insisted.</p>
<p>“Then what is going on?” she persisted. “You've been acting strange, and I wanna know why?”</p>
<p>“How have I been acting strange?”</p>
<p>She deadpanned him. “Well for one, staying at school the past few weekends.”</p>
<p>“I told you why I did that,” he responded.</p>
<p>“What about the fact that you've hardly even spoken to me?”</p>
<p>“Sam, I wasn't intentionally ignoring you,” he insisted. “I didn't have much free time, but whenever I had a minute I made sure to check in with you.”</p>
<p>“And I get that,” she replied, “I don't actually expect you to text me every hour of every day, but I have a hard time believing school had you that tied up.”</p>
<p>“It did,” he replied, but she remained defiant, crossing her arms. “I was super stressed out, and all I wanted was to get all of my work over and done with so I could have a worry-free winter break.”</p>
<p>“And do you think I haven't been stressed out too?!” she responded in a rage. “These past three weeks have been the worst, the absolute worst, and the only thing keeping me going was knowing I'd eventually see you.”</p>
<p>“Babe, I'm sorry,” he apologized. “I know we were supposed to hang out the past couple weekends, but I'm here now. We can catch up on the time we missed,” he attempted to comfort her.</p>
<p>“Can we?” she replied sarcastically, “Cause a second ago you were about to leave and not tell me why.”</p>
<p>“I'm not leaving,” he corrected her, “I just have to go do something, but I'm coming back.”</p>
<p>“But why is it a secret?”</p>
<p>Freddie huffed, “Sam…”</p>
<p>“What are you hiding from me?” she cut him off again. He remained silent. “I've been worried ever since you first canceled on me two weeks ago,” she admitted. “I tried ignore it, but Freddie, things have felt off since that phone call, and you won't tell me why. I thought maybe you were upset over that chiz with your mom, but I know that's not it.”</p>
<p>Freddie continued to stand in silence as Sam unloaded the emotion built up over the month she spent without him.</p>
<p>“So what is it then Freddie?”</p>
<p>“Nothing!” he continued to insist to her.</p>
<p>“Then what was up with you trying to sneak out before I got here? I don't think I'm wrong to wanna know what you were doing.”</p>
<p>“Now you're just thinking the worst,” he interrupted her, “and if you're insinuating what I think you are, you need to stop right there. I would never do that.” He clearly took offense to the notion she was implying.</p>
<p>“Then what is it Freddie?! A few stressful weeks of school is not the answer. I know it's not. And you know what? Even if you are stressed out, that doesn't give you an excuse to be a bad boyfriend!” Sam harshly said, catching her breath as her voice cracked.</p>
<p>An awkwardly long silence between them followed, and Freddie was clearly taken aback by Sam's words. 'Bad boyfriend' echoed through his head, striking a deep nerve with him. As the silence loomed over the room, Sam started to realize what she had just said, and regret almost immediately came pouring down on her.</p>
<p>“I didn't mean that...” she uttered regretfully, but it was too late, the damage had been done. Freddie took her comment to heart, and his face told the story. Shaking his head, he turned away from her. “Don't go,” she said as she saw him zipping his jacket up. “I'm sorry,” she continued, but he ignored her. “Freddie, please don't go,” she desperately pleaded, but her pleas fell on deaf ears. “Please, can we just talk?” she trailed behind him as he started towards the door. “Freddie!” she repeated his name, but was interrupted by the apartment door harshly shutting in her face. “Please...” she uttered again as she now stood face to face with hardwood door. The silence that followed was deafening. Distraught, she spun around and pressed her back to the door before slowly collapsing to the floor. Her forearms rested on her knees as she pathetically sat on the floor in regret and despair.</p>
<p>In that moment, her head was all over the place. Was she justified? Maybe, maybe not. Was Freddie hiding something? It seemed like it, but for her to assume so certainly wasn't fair, and while he may have hesitated to tell her what was going on, she never really gave him the space to answer. She was so stressed out from the entire month that all of her pent up emotion just poured out onto him. Regardless of how dreary her December had been, there was one thing Sam was certain of as she sat on the floor, and it was that Freddie wasn't a bad boyfriend. For the better part of the last few years, he had gone out of his way for her. It was downright insulting for her to suggest what she had and say what she said just because they were having a rough patch. A rough patch that for all she knew, was possibly fabricated by her own stress. Her head leaned back on the door behind her as she replayed what had just occurred in mind, over and over.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Chapter VII: “Holiday Cheer”</strong>
</p>
<p>Several hours passed, and Freddie never came back, at least not to Sam. There was a good chance he was across the hall at his mother's, but Sam knew he didn't want to see her. He would've come back if he did. She had really upset him, and she knew it. Sam laid on Spencer's couch alone with her 'bad boyfriend' comment still echoing through her head. It was driving her crazy, and she needed to talk to someone. Sitting up, she grabbed her pear-phone from the coffee table and began sifting through her contacts until she reached Carly. If there was anyone who could give Sam some words of comfort or encouragement, it was her. She quickly dialed her best friend, but unfortunately the phone rang several times before she was greeted by the disheartening voicemail notification. Sam sighed as the recording played into her ear before hanging up without leaving a message. Sifting through her contacts some more, Sam went to the next best person she could rely on and confide in, Cat. Ditzy as she may have been, Cat always displayed a great amount compassion for her blonde friend, and Sam needed that more than anything in the moment. The phone rang in Sam's ears several times, and she worried the dreaded voicemail notification would make its presence felt again, but suddenly there was an answer.</p>
<p>“Hello?” Cat answered in her typical high pitched voice.</p>
<p>“Cat!” Sam said excitedly. “Whatsup?!”</p>
<p>“Hello?” Cat repeated.</p>
<p>“Hello?” Sam replied back.</p>
<p>“Sam?” Cat continued.</p>
<p>“Cat? Can you hear me?” Sam asked, but got no response. It sounded like there was loud music playing wherever she was.</p>
<p>“Sam, if you can hear me I'm at a Christmas party right now,” Cat revealed. “It's pretty loud in here, I can't hear anything, but I'll text you.”</p>
<p>“Ughhh,” Sam groaned in agitation as she hung up, unable to catch a break it seemed. Her phone then buzzed in her hand as Cat followed up with a text as promised.</p>
<p>“Whatsup?” the text simply read.</p>
<p>“Nothing, just looking to talk,” Sam replied.</p>
<p>“Everything okay?” Cat quickly texted back.</p>
<p>“Yeah I'm okay, don't worry about it, it's nothing urgent,” Sam shot another text back, not wanting to drag her friend's mood down while she was out at a party.</p>
<p>“Kk,” Cat replied in typical fashion.</p>
<p>Chucking her pear-phone on the couch beside her, Sam laid back down and stared at the ceiling with her remarks to Freddie still running through her head. “Ugh, I wish I never said that,” she uttered to herself.</p>
<p>“I'd love to help you with that, but unfortunately l can't,” a strange voice suddenly said from somewhere over by the kitchen.</p>
<p>“What the?!” Sam jumped off the couch in shock. “Who said that?! Who's there?!” she exclaimed.</p>
<p>“Relax,” the voice said. Then a peculiarly small man came walking out from underneath the giant Santa hat Spencer had made.</p>
<p>“Oh great! How come people always hide in Spencer's sculptures!” she exclaimed.</p>
<p>“There's nothing to worry about,” this small man said.</p>
<p>“Nothing to worry about?!” Sam shot back. “Who are you?! And why are you here?!”</p>
<p>He walked closer to Sam.</p>
<p>“Stay back! You come any closer and you'll be introduced to my butter-sock!” Sam threatened.</p>
<p>“What the heck is a butter-sock?” he asked.</p>
<p>“It's painful, that's what it is!” she continued.</p>
<p>His face grimaced in confusion. “Look, Sam...” he started to say, but she quickly interrupted him.</p>
<p>“How do you know my name?!”</p>
<p>“I'm a friend of Carly's,” he told her.</p>
<p>“What?!” she exclaimed. “How do you know Carly? Who the heck are you?!”</p>
<p>“My names Mitch,” he said. “I'm a Christmas angel.”</p>
<p>“Okay, am I going insane?” Sam asked.</p>
<p>“Well, I'd venture say you already are, considering you just threatened me with something called a butter-sock,” Mitch replied. “but if you're asking that because of me being here, the answer is no, you're not going insane.”</p>
<p>Sam looked at him suspiciously, still in complete confusion as to what was happening.</p>
<p>“I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you're still considering getting the butter-sock thing and chasing me around with it,” he nonchalantly said as he hopped up onto the couch, taking a seat.</p>
<p>“Good guess,” Sam sarcastically replied. “So you should probably get out if you know what's good for you.”</p>
<p>“And if you know what's good for you, you'll settle down and listen to me,” he replied.</p>
<p>“And why should I do that?” she asked defiantly.</p>
<p>“Cause I'm here to help,” he said, “or help you find some holiday cheer at the very least.”</p>
<p>“And I should just go along with what this random, strange man is saying to me?”</p>
<p>“I'm not a man, I'm an angel,” he corrected her, “and I'm not random, I told you I'm a friend of Carly's. She sent me here.”</p>
<p>“Carly sent you here?” she skeptically asked. “Yeah right. How do you even know Carly?”</p>
<p>“She helped me get my wings,” he told her.</p>
<p>“What the heck does that mean?”</p>
<p>“Angels have to earn their wings by granting a wish that causes unintended consequences, therefore teaching them a valuable lesson,” he explained.</p>
<p>“Okay, I'm not following,” Sam replied bluntly.</p>
<p>“To make a long story short, I granted a Christmas wish for Carly back when you guys were in high school. I helped her learn a valuable lesson, and in turn, she helped me earn my wings,” he continued.</p>
<p>“Am I supposed to believe this?” Sam continued her skepticism.</p>
<p>“Wow, you're stubborn,” Mitch commented as Sam crossed her arms. “Look, Carly asked if I would help you, and I obliged. So do you want it or not?”</p>
<p>“Why does Carly think I need help?” Sam asked.</p>
<p>“Well technically she doesn't,” Mitch replied. “Do you know what time it is in Italy?”</p>
<p>“No,” Sam said bluntly.</p>
<p>“It's about 4' in the morning,” Mitch told her. “That's why she didn't answer when you called her. She's asleep.”</p>
<p>“So then how on earth would she send 'help' from a 'Christmas angel'?” Sam threw up air quotes.</p>
<p>“Because she's your best friend,” Mitch explained. “The two of you share a deep connection, and Carly can subconsciously feel the distress you are going through while she dreams.”</p>
<p>“Okay, I'm definitely going insane,” Sam reiterated.</p>
<p>Mitch rolled his eyes. “Look, Carly was having a dream that mirrored reality, where you, her best friend, was having a pretty jank holiday. In her dream state, she called upon me, her Christmas angel, and requested that I come help you. Now here I am.”</p>
<p>“Okay fine,” Sam said reluctantly. “So how are you gonna help me? Are you gonna grant me a wish or something?”</p>
<p>“Well, you actually made a wish right before I showed up. You wished that you had never said what you did to your boyfriend, Freddie,” Mitch replied.</p>
<p>“So did you grant it?” Sam asked bluntly.</p>
<p>“Nope.”</p>
<p>“Well then what the heck?!” she threw up her hands and slapped her thighs.</p>
<p>“I technically can only grant wishes that cause unintended consequences in order teach lessons. You've already suffered unintended consequences by saying what you said to Freddie, I can't fix that,” Mitch explained.</p>
<p>“So you came here for no reason then?” Sam replied annoyed.</p>
<p>“I came here because your friend cares about you, and wants you to be happy,” Mitch said. “Now maybe I can't grant you a wish that'll magically fix everything, but I'm still an expert on all things Christmas,” he continued confidently.</p>
<p>“So what are you gonna do for me?”</p>
<p>“The real question is what are you gonna do for someone else?” Mitch replied.</p>
<p>“What is this? Some kind of riddle?” Sam continued in an annoyed tone.</p>
<p>“Man, you're difficult,” he commented. “No, it's not a riddle. I said earlier I'd at least try to help you find some holiday cheer.”</p>
<p>“And how will you do that?”</p>
<p>“Sam, if you want to change the tune of your holiday season, then you have do something nice for someone else,” he explained.</p>
<p>“Why should I do anything nice for anyone?” she argued, still worn down from her exhaustive December.</p>
<p>“Because doing nice things for other people will in turn, bring you happiness,” Mitch replied.</p>
<p>Sam deadpanned him like he was crazy.</p>
<p>“Hey c'mon, don't give me that look. You know I'm right,” Mitch said, “and I know you have a heart hidden behind that wall of chiz you put up as a front.”</p>
<p>“Oh, do you?” she replied, pretending to be unfazed by his words.</p>
<p>“Yes, I do. Carly wouldn't have sent me if that wasn't true.”</p>
<p>Sam remained stoic.</p>
<p>“And Spencer wouldn't let you live here and treat you like his other sister if that wasn't true.”</p>
<p>She crossed her arms again.</p>
<p>“And your friend Cat wouldn't have immediately texted you earlier to see if you were okay if that wasn't true.”</p>
<p>She then turned her head away.</p>
<p>“And Freddie wouldn't love you if that wasn't true.”</p>
<p>She closed her eyes tightly at that last one, attempting to hide her emotion.</p>
<p>“He does love you,” Mitch told her.</p>
<p>Letting out a sigh, she uncrossed her arms, dropping her tense demeanor, and turned back to Mitch. “So, you're saying if I do some nice deeds for Christmas that'll it somehow fix what I said to Freddie?”</p>
<p>“No,” Mitch replied. “I suggested doing some nice things for others because it'll help you feel better. Don't do it if you have ulterior motives. Do it because you want to.”</p>
<p>“Who should I do something nice for then?”</p>
<p>“I'm sure you can think of few people you'd like to spread holiday cheer to,” Mitch said.</p>
<p>Sam pondered it, and honestly, he was right. Without hesitation, several people ran through her mind.</p>
<p>“I think you're starting the come around,” Mitch joked as he noticed the gears in her head turning.</p>
<p>Sam actually cracked a smile and shrugged, “A few people come to mind.”</p>
<p>“Then go do something nice for them,” Mitch said. “Show them you care. I promise it'll help you feel a little better.”</p>
<p>“This is crazy,” Sam chuckled. “Am I really taking advice from some random man claiming to be an angel?”</p>
<p>“Hey, I am an angel!” Mitch corrected her again, “And I'm not…”</p>
<p>“Random,” Sam cut him off, “yeah, yeah, I get it. Carly sent you.”</p>
<p>“Oh, so you finally believe me huh?”</p>
<p>“Maybe,” Sam joked.</p>
<p>Mitch chuckled.</p>
<p>“Well, I guess I'm gonna go spread some 'holiday cheer' then,” Sam told him. “Tell Carly I said thanks for looking out for me.” Turning to walk away, she was dumbfounded to find that the apartment door was gone, it was just a blank wall with no exit. “Uhhh, okay Mitch?” she paused, “I know I joked about going insane, but I think I actually might be. Is it just me or is the apartment door gone?” she turned to ask him if he also saw the missing door, but when she looked back, he too was gone. “What the?” she uttered, “Mitch? Where did you go?” She quickly scanned the apartment, and checked underneath the giant Santa hat, but he was nowhere to be found. “Okay, yes, I'm officially insane. The door is gone, and I just had a full blown conversation with an angel that has apparently vanished.” Confused, she went and grabbed a glass of water from the kitchen, downed it, and then took some deep breaths. “Maybe I just need some rest,” she tried to convince herself she wasn't losing her mind. Heeding her own advice, she went over and plopped back onto the couch. “This is crazy,” she uttered as she laid her head onto the pillow and closed her eyes.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Chapter VIII: “He Looks At You Differently”</strong>
</p>
<p>The sounds of a shutting door awoke Sam from her sleep, giving her a sudden scare as her eyes shot open. With half of her limbs dangling off the side of the couch, she lifted her head to see Spencer walking into the apartment. “Spencer?” she mumbled in her semi-conscious state.</p>
<p>“Morning kiddo,” he replied as he walked in.</p>
<p>Rubbing the drowsiness from her eyes, she transitioned into consciousness and proceeded to do a double-take of Spencer.</p>
<p>“What?” he looked at her with confusion.</p>
<p>“The door!” she exclaimed.</p>
<p>“The door?”</p>
<p>“It's back!” she pointed behind him.</p>
<p>Spencer turned and did a quick glance at it, “Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was always there.”</p>
<p>“No, I swear it wasn't…” she stopped herself mid-sentence. “Did I dream that?” she thought to herself.</p>
<p>“I think someone still needs time to wake up,” he joked. “Do you want some breakfast? I just ran to the store to pick up some eggs,” he offered as he proceeded to the kitchen.</p>
<p>“Uhhh, sure,” she accepted, sitting upright on the couch.</p>
<p>“Scrambled?”</p>
<p>“That works.”</p>
<p>“So, what were you saying about the door?” he asked again as he grabbed a frying pan from the pantry.</p>
<p>“Oh, nothing,” she said, getting up and walking to the counter. “I had some crazy dream where the door was missing and I couldn't leave.”</p>
<p>“Weird,” he commented as he turned the stove on.</p>
<p>“You don't even know,” she sat on the stool. “Before the door disappeared there was this strange man in my dream.”</p>
<p>“Strange man?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, he was little, and claimed he was sent here by…” she stopped mid-sentence again.</p>
<p>“Sent by who?” Spencer asked, glancing over at Sam.</p>
<p>“One sec,” she paused, scurrying over to the coffee table to grab her pear-phone. Peculiarly enough, there was a text message that was a few hours old, from Carly.</p>
<p>
  <em>“Hey Sam, I saw I had a missed call from you. Sorry I didn't answer, it was the middle of the night here when you called. Is everything okay? I had a weird dream that you were really unhappy and needed help. I felt strange about it when I woke up, and just wanted to check in on you. I was gonna call, but you're probably the one asleep now, stupid time differences lol. Anyway, just get back to me when you see this.”</em>
</p>
<p>Sam read over the text several times in disbelief. Mitch was right, Carly was subconsciously aware that she wasn't doing too well. “Maybe I didn't dream it…” Sam uttered quietly to herself. Was it possible that her encounter with this so called 'Christmas angel' named Mitch actually happened? He had claimed that Carly had called upon him while in a dream state, and now Sam had a text her that all but confirmed it. “It was real…” she uttered to herself again.</p>
<p>“Hey, everything alright?” Spencer leaned over the kitchen counter.</p>
<p>“Oh! Uhhh,” Sam stuttered, “yeah, yeah I'm fine.”</p>
<p>“Okay then,” Spencer raised his eyebrows at her strange behavior.</p>
<p>Looking back at her phone, she quickly replied to Carly to assure her she was alright.</p>
<p>
  <em>“I had a strange dream too! So weird. But yeah, I'm okay Carls. Thanks for looking out though! I'll call you if I get some time.”</em>
</p>
<p>She opted to make no mention of Mitch to Carly because if he was to be believed, Carly wouldn't even have been aware that she had called upon him in the first place. Regardless, Sam took the text as confirmation that some part of this had to be real, and that she had some 'holiday cheer' to spread to a few people.</p>
<p>“Eggs are almost done,” Spencer yelled out from the kitchen. “You want bacon?” he continued, but there was no response. Turning to face Sam, he noticed her deadpanning him from the middle of the living room. “What?” he shrugged.</p>
<p>“Dude…” she said bluntly.</p>
<p>“What?” he asked again.</p>
<p>“I'm Sam, of course I want bacon,” she jokingly threw her hands up.</p>
<p>“Good point,” he said feeling silly, “I'll cook up some up.” Sam chuckled.</p>
<p>As Spencer finished cooking up the breakfast, Sam quickly went and got changed so she could head out afterwards. Strolling back through the living room, ready for the day, she approached the counter and grabbed a freshly cooked slice of bacon from the plate Spencer put out.</p>
<p>Spencer was pouring himself some orange juice. “Going out today?” he asked.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I got a few things I need to take care of,” she replied, sitting on the stool after grabbing some eggs from the frying pan.</p>
<p>“Not hanging out with Freddie? He's home right?” he asked. “I thought you'd be pretty eager to spend some time together considering how much you've been missing him.”</p>
<p>“I do miss him,” she said disappointedly, sitting her fork down, “but I did something stupid last night.”</p>
<p>“What does that mean?” he asked, walking over to the counter with his orange juice.</p>
<p>Sam looked up at him with a blunt stare.</p>
<p>“You brought up that you were worried he was hiding something from you?” Spencer guessed.</p>
<p>“Good guess,” she gently thumped her hand on the counter.</p>
<p>“Well I can’t fault you for that,” he replied. “Like I said, it's better to address it if you really feel like something is wrong.”</p>
<p>“Well that went well,” Sam said sarcastically.</p>
<p>“But,” Spencer put his index finger up, “how you addressed it is just as important.”</p>
<p>Sam looked away, her guilt was apparent.</p>
<p>“So, you accused him rather than just talking to him about it,” Spencer guessed again.</p>
<p>Sam sighed. “I hadn't seen him in three weeks, and even last night he was still being a little weird,” she said, ”so I was a little paranoid, and I basically blew up on him. I didn't mean to act like I did, but it just came out of me.”</p>
<p>“That tends to happen when you bottle everything up,” he told her. “You're pretty good at that.”</p>
<p>“Thanks,” she said sarcastically.</p>
<p>“Just saying,” he replied. “So what did you say to him anyway?”</p>
<p>She huffed, “Like you said, I sort of accused him of some chiz, indirectly, and he didn't like that.”</p>
<p>“What specifically did you say?” Spencer persisted. “Freddie is pretty good with patience, so you had to have said something that really upset him.”</p>
<p>“I don't even want to repeat it,” she looked away again with guilt. “I'm so stupid.”</p>
<p>“You can't run from your problems Sam,” he commented.</p>
<p>Sighing again she admitted, “I said he was a bad boyfriend.”</p>
<p>“Ouch,” Spencer quickly replied.</p>
<p>“Mhm,” she nodded in agreement. “I instantly regretted it, and tried to apologize but he stormed out of here.”</p>
<p>“And you guys haven't spoken since that happened last night?”</p>
<p>“Nope,” she said bluntly. “I know he doesn't want to talk to me, he would've come back last night if he did.”</p>
<p>“You think he's that upset?”</p>
<p>“I've never seen him like that,” she uttered. “The look on his face when I said that to him was something I never want to see again. I feel terrible about it.”</p>
<p>“You don't think he'll…”</p>
<p>“Don't say it,” Sam interrupted him. “That can't happen. I don't know what I would do.”</p>
<p>“Well, what was he even doing last night that set you off?” Spencer continued to investigate. “You said he was still acting weird.”</p>
<p>“Well yeah, he was,” Sam confirmed, “and I still feel that way too. Regardless of whatever stupid chiz I said to him, I'm still completely in the dark about whatever he's been hiding.”</p>
<p>“There you go accusing again,” Spencer said.</p>
<p>“Not helping,” she shot back at him.</p>
<p>“Just saying,” he said again, throwing his hands up. “It's just that…” he hesitated.</p>
<p>“Just what?” Sam looked at him curiously.</p>
<p>“Sam, I didn't want to suggest this before because it could potentially ruin it, but did you ever think that Freddie might being hiding something from you that's isn’t bad,” he said.</p>
<p>“What the heck does that mean?” she asked.</p>
<p>“Like I said, I don't want to ruin anything, but I've watched you and Freddie grow up together. I've watched you guys grow into a couple, and I've watched how he acts around you.”</p>
<p>“What are you getting at?”</p>
<p>“He looks at you differently than he looks at everyone else,” he told her, to which Sam remained quiet as she pondered his words.</p>
<p>“Are you saying he might've been thinking about…”</p>
<p>“I'm not saying anything,” he interrupted. “Don't set expectations in your head just because I'm speculating. I'm just as in the dark as you are about whatever he's been up to. I just know how he looks at you,” he reiterated, “That's not something you can manufacture. It's as real as it gets.”</p>
<p>Sam continued to ponder things in her head as she looked down at the counter. “And I've been acting like whazz-bag to him all month…”</p>
<p>“Hey c'mon,” Spencer reached over the counter and patted her arm, “we still don't know anything, don't beat yourself up it.”</p>
<p>“I just hope he forgives me for what I said.”</p>
<p>“He will,” Spencer assured her.</p>
<p>Raising her eyebrows she said, “We'll see.” After finishing the rest of her breakfast she prepared to head out. “Alright, well I'm out Spence, I'll see ya later,” she approached the door.</p>
<p>“Alright, later,” he yelled back from the kitchen as she exited the apartment, and she was off to spread 'holiday cheer,” as Mitch had suggested, whatever that meant.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Chapter IX: “You Were Right”</strong>
</p>
<p>Over the next few days leading into Christmas, Sam took Mitch's advice and tried her hardest to spread some holiday cheer around to others, hoping it would in turn make her feel a bit better. There were several people in mind that she wanted to do something nice for, and she started with her new found buddy she had made a few weeks back, little Connor. Approaching his parents' home, she sat a gift down at her feet and knocked twice on the door before ring the bell. After a few seconds passed, the door cracked open and Connor's mother answered.</p>
<p>“Oh, Samantha! Hi!” his mother greeted her.</p>
<p>“Hi, how are you?” Sam cordially greeted her back.</p>
<p>“I'm good,” she replied. “It's nice to see you! What brings you here?”</p>
<p>“Um, I actually stopped by to say hi to Connor,” Sam told her. “I have a present for him if that's okay.”</p>
<p>“Oh absolutely! How thoughtful of you!” his mother replied ecstatically. “C'mon on in for a minute!”</p>
<p>Obliging, Sam picked up her rather large gift from the ground beside her.</p>
<p>“That's for our son?!” his mother asked as Sam stepped in. “What made you do that?”</p>
<p>“Oh, it's nothing,” Sam said nonchalantly. “I just wanted to get him something because he was so good when I watched him the other week.”</p>
<p>“Samantha! Thank you! That is so thoughtful!” his mother reiterated to her with delight. “Oh, he'll be so happy when he sees you!” she continued, “He kept talking about you after you babysat him. He really liked you.” Sam smiled at that fact. “He's playing in the other room, I'll go call him out here,” his mother walked over to the first floor hallway. “Connor! You have visitor who's here to see you!”</p>
<p>“Who's here?!” his innocent voice echoed from the play room. His voice alone was already enough to bring up Sam’s morale. She smiled as she heard him down the hallway.</p>
<p>“Come out and see!” his mother said enthusiastically.</p>
<p>Sticking his head out from around the corner of the hallway, he saw Sam standing over by the door. “Sam!” he excitedly ran over to her and hugged her knees.</p>
<p>“Hey buddy!” Sam happily crouched down to him. “What's going on?”</p>
<p>“I was playing trains again!” he told her excitedly. “Come look!” he pulled on her hand wanting her to follow him.</p>
<p>Sam looked at his mother to see if it was okay, who gave her the go-ahead with a smile.</p>
<p>“Okay, show me!” Sam told him as he led her down the hallway to the playroom. Connor spent the next several minutes proudly showing Sam his most recent train set up. Much like before, his infectious personality permeated the room, and it brought up Sam's moral even more as she adored his imagination. “Wow! Very cool!” she happily praised his masterpiece, “But you know what?”</p>
<p>“What?” he asked curiously.</p>
<p>“I think you still have to add more to this track,” she told him.</p>
<p>“What else should put?!”</p>
<p>“I'll show you. Just wait here a second. Okay?” Sam told him as she walked back out to the living room to grab her gift.</p>
<p>“Okay!” Connor said with excitement.</p>
<p>“That wouldn't happen to be the train set he keeps talking about?” his mother asked in a whisper as Sam came back to the living room.</p>
<p>Sam simply smiled in response.</p>
<p>“I looked everywhere for it! How did you find one?” his mother asked curiously. “They were all over the place last month, but I waited to buy it for him and all the stores started selling out.”</p>
<p>“Well, I had to make a decent little trip for it,” Sam told his mother, “but it's no big deal. He told me about it when I watched him, and I took a shot in the dark hoping you guys hadn't already gotten it for him.”</p>
<p>“Samantha, you went through all that for our son?” his mother asked. “How can I repay you?”</p>
<p>“Don't worry about,” Sam insisted. “Connor was the best kid I've had the pleasure of babysitting,” she told his mother, “I wanted to do something nice for him.”</p>
<p>“Sam, where are you?” Connor's voice interrupted, echoing from the play room.</p>
<p>“Here I come,” Sam replied. “Should I let him have it now?” she asked his mother.</p>
<p>“I think you should,” his mother replied. Sam then proceeded back to the play room with the gift in hand.</p>
<p>“What's that?!” Connor ran over to her as he saw the gift wrapped box.</p>
<p>“It's for you!” Sam told him. “Merry Christmas buddy!” she crouched back down to him</p>
<p>“A present?! Can I open it now?!”</p>
<p>“You can,” she happily told him.</p>
<p>“Yay!” He quickly clawed at the wrapping paper enthusiastically, and within seconds he had revealed the gift. “Whoa! You got me the train set I saw at the toy store!”</p>
<p>“Do you like it?” she asked.</p>
<p>“Yeah! It's just what I wanted!” he jumped into Sam's arms. “Thank you Sam!”</p>
<p>As Connor vigorously hugged her, she felt the happiness that had predominantly been absent from her life all December long. Perhaps Mitch was onto something with this ‘holiday cheer’ thing after all. She then noticed Connor's mother standing at the doorway of the playroom while he was hugging her. “Thank you,” she lipped to Sam, to which Sam smiled back.</p>
<p>
  <strong>The following day…</strong>
</p>
<p>Sam rounded up a few more gifts, this time for her two closest friends, Carly and Cat, as well as her sister, Melanie. For each, she collected a few different items she thought they might enjoy and shipped them off at the post office, going to Italy and LA respectively. Carly's gifts included a build-a-bra gift card, a Cuddlefish hoodie (her favorite band), and few packs of her favorite gummy hearts candies from the Groovy Smoothie. For Cat, she sent several stuffed animals to add to her already extensive collection, along with a few boxes of Bibble and note that read, <em>“Don't eat too much at once.”</em> Melanie didn't live out of state, but she was still a good distance away, so Sam dropped her gift in the mailbox outside. For her, it was a small bottle of a perfume that she really liked, accompanied by a Christmas card that jokingly read, <em>“You know you could stop by every once in a while. Thanksgiving was lame without you. :p”</em></p>
<p>Slowly, but surely, the dark cloud that had loomed over Sam for most of the month felt like it was vanishing. As she headed back to her motorcycle, she pulled out her pear-phone, hoping to see a text, or a missed call from Freddie, but unfortunately there wasn't one. She didn't dwell on it however, there was no point. She had come to terms with what she had caused, and all she could do was let him be upset with her and hope it would eventually blow over.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Christmas Eve…</strong>
</p>
<p>“Whaddup?” Spencer greeted Sam as she came in from being out all day.</p>
<p>“Hey Spence,” she said, noticing he was packing up some gifts into larger bag. “What're you doing with those?” she asked.</p>
<p>“Oh, these are for my grandparents,” he told her as he continued to pack them away.</p>
<p>“Oh that's right,” Sam said, “You're going to your grandparents tonight aren't you?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I promised them I'd spend Christmas with them this year,” he confirmed, “so I'm gonna be MIA for the holiday, sorry to leave you hanging like that. I know it's been a rough month.”</p>
<p>“Eh, it's getting better,” she shrugged.</p>
<p>“You and Freddie cool yet?” he asked.</p>
<p>“I wish I could say yes, but I can't,” she shrugged.</p>
<p>“Well maybe you should try to talk to him,” Spencer suggested. “I know you 'think' he doesn't want to see you, but you can't just assume that. Assuming got you into this mess to begin with.”</p>
<p>“I know, I know,” she replied. “I did at least text him, but I haven't heard back. I'm not gonna keep pestering him.”</p>
<p>“You shouldn't be alone on Christmas Eve though,” Spencer said. “Want me to try to talk to him?”</p>
<p>“No, its fine,” she said. “Thanks though.”</p>
<p>“So what're you gonna do for the holiday then?”</p>
<p>“I could always go to my mom's,” she shrugged.</p>
<p>“Yeah cause Thanksgiving was so great,” Spencer said sarcastically.</p>
<p>Sam laughed, “Don't worry about me. Really, I'll be alright.”</p>
<p>“Alright then,” Spencer relented. “As always, this house is your house too. I don't mind if you stay here while I'm away for a few days.”</p>
<p>“Good cause I was planning on staying anyway,” she joked. “So when are you leaving for Yakima?”</p>
<p>“In about an hour actually,” he told her.</p>
<p>“Oh jeez, so soon!” she scurried over to the Christmas tree that Spencer had previously conceded to keeping on the floor. Grabbing a small gift from underneath, she ran it back over to him. “Here, I better give you this now then.”</p>
<p>“Ooooh!” Spencer grabbed it from her with a smile. “What could it be?” he gave a small shake.</p>
<p>“Open it!” she said excitedly.</p>
<p>“Okay, okay!” he tore the wrapping paper off and opened the small gift box underneath, revealing what seemed to be handheld game of some sort. “What's this?” he said pulling it from the box and holding it up.</p>
<p>“Turn it on,” she said, to which he obliged. Upon turning on the small device, he was surprised to see the screen booting up a game of Pak-Rat. “You bought me a handheld Pak-Rat?” he asked, “But you guys were all in agreement I shouldn't be playing this because I get addicted. Remember what happened over the summer when we went to the beach?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I know,” Sam said, “but I know you genuinely love playing the game.”</p>
<p>“This is true,” Spencer jokingly agreed.</p>
<p>“So this one I got you is programmed to shut off every day if it ever stays on for longer than one hour,” she told him. “That way you can still play, but it won't get out of hand and start effecting your everyday life.”</p>
<p>“Whoa cool!” he said, “So I can actually play Pak-Rat like a normal, healthy human, and not get addicted?”</p>
<p>“You can,” Sam nodded.</p>
<p>“How you get something like this? They don't sell these.”</p>
<p>“My cousin Annie knows a guy who's good with modifying games and chiz,” she said. “I just had to buy the game, and have him work his magic on it.”</p>
<p>“That's so cool!” he replied. “Thank you!”</p>
<p>“It's nothing,” she waved him off.</p>
<p>“No, this is awesome!” he continued. “Here, let me give you your gift.”</p>
<p>“You got me something?”</p>
<p>“Uh, duh,” he grabbed a gift from under the tree himself, a rather large gift box. ”Here,” he handed it to her.</p>
<p>“This big thing is mine?” she asked. “What the heck could possibly be in here?”</p>
<p>“Probably not what you think,” he chuckled.</p>
<p>She looked at him confused.</p>
<p>“Open it and see,” he told her.</p>
<p>“Okay,” she removed the lid from the gift box and oddly found a bunch of Fat Cakes. “Fat Cakes?” she asked looking at him. “I mean, I do love Fat Cakes but why did you buy so many for me?”</p>
<p>“Look closer at the packages,” he said.</p>
<p>She inspected them again, noticing the packing was slightly different than usual. “Wait? Are these?!”</p>
<p>“Mhmmm,” Spencer nodded.</p>
<p>“Canadian Fat Cakes!” she exclaimed. “Dude! How did you get these?!”</p>
<p>“Socko knows a guy,” he told her.</p>
<p>“Gotta love Socko,” she joked. “Hopefully I can make these last.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, don't go eating them all in one night,” he joked.</p>
<p>“No promises,” she joked back.</p>
<p>“Thank you, Spence,” she said with a smile.</p>
<p>“Merry Christmas, kiddo,” he said patting her arm before getting back to packing his gifts for his grandparents.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Later that night...</strong>
</p>
<p>Spencer had left for Yakima, and Sam sat alone on the couch, glancing at her phone every few minutes, hoping Freddie might reach out to her. Unfortunately, as the hours passed, it seemed more and more like that wasn't going to happen. Leaning back on the couch, she stressfully ran her hands through her hair and sighed. She glanced over at the few presents that were left underneath the tree, there were still a few she hadn't given out. Instead of continuing to sit around and mope, she decided to attempt spread a bit more of that ‘holiday cheer’ Mitch had talked about. She got off the couch, rounded up the gifts into a bag, and headed out.</p>
<p>Her first stop was the Groovy Smoothie, which was packed. Gibby's little Christmas Eve shindig was apparently a hit. She shifted through the sea of people in the restaurant, hoping to find some familiar faces.</p>
<p>“Sam! You made it!” Gibby yelled out to her from over by the counter.</p>
<p>“Hey Gib!” she approached with a smile.</p>
<p>“What do you think?” he asked proudly. “Is Gibby's Groovy Smoothie Holiday Bash the chiz or what?”</p>
<p>“You've outdone yourself,” she told him.</p>
<p>“Gibbayyy!” he threw his hands up.</p>
<p>“Hey, is Freddie here?” she asked curiously.</p>
<p>“He was,” Gibby told her, “but he left early. Seemed like he had a lot on his mind.”</p>
<p>“Oh great,” Sam thought to herself, worried about what that potentially meant.</p>
<p>“Wait, why didn't you guys come together?” Gibby asked.</p>
<p>“It's a long story,” Sam said. “Anyway, I can't really stick around either, I got something else I gotta do.”</p>
<p>“What? You're leaving too? You just got here,” Gibby said disappointedly. “Man, you guys are whack.”</p>
<p>“Sorry Gib, I'd love to stay, but I really can't,” she stressed to him.</p>
<p>“Whatev,” he said nonchalantly.</p>
<p>“Hey c'mon,” Sam said, “at least I stopped by.”</p>
<p>Gibby crossed his arms and looked away.</p>
<p>“And I got you a present,” she waved a gift around in his face.</p>
<p>At the sight of a present, his disenchantment with her quickly faded. “Okay, I'm not mad!” he relented, “What'd you get me?!” he grabbed the bag from her excitedly.</p>
<p>“Check it out,” she told him.</p>
<p>He pulled out something large and flat from within her bag, it was covered in thin tissue paper.</p>
<p>“Sorry about the poor wrapping job, it was an awkward gift to try to wrap.”</p>
<p>“What is it though?!” he quickly pulled the tissue paper away from it. “No way?!” he exclaimed as he revealed the gift.</p>
<p>“Yep,” she nodded.</p>
<p>“How do manage to get this?!” he held it up with joy. It was the old Gibby's sign back from when he had opened that restaurant in the basement of Ridgeway high school.</p>
<p>“I snuck into Ridgeway and stole it from the basement,” she shrugged.</p>
<p>“I can't believe it was still there!”</p>
<p>“I know right?” Sam agreed.</p>
<p>“Thank you so much Sam! This is such a cool gift!</p>
<p>“Mama gets it done,” she joked.</p>
<p>“Man, this is gonna look great in my room!” Holding up the sign up next to himself, he once again said his patented catchphrase, “Gibbbbayyyy!” to which Sam chuckled.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Later that night…</strong>
</p>
<p>Sam headed back to Bushwell and up to the eighth floor, but before retreating back to Spencer's for the night, she stopped outside of apartment 8-D. There was one last thing she needed to do. Approaching the door, she gave a few knocks and waited for an answer, but nobody did. After a minute or two passed as she stood in the hallway she considered leaving well enough alone, but she couldn't, this was important. She knocked again and proceeded to let herself in, the door was unlocked. Peeking her head in, she said “Hello? Anyone home?”</p>
<p>“Freddie's not here,” she heard Mrs. Benson's voice reply.</p>
<p>Stepping into the apartment, Sam approached her as she was arranging some presents around her Christmas tree.</p>
<p>“Didn't you hear me say he's not here,” she restated.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Sam replied. “Do you know where he is?”</p>
<p>“I know he doesn't want to speak to you,” Mrs. Benson said bluntly.</p>
<p>Sam nodded her head in acknowledgement, “I know.”</p>
<p>“Then what're you doing here?”</p>
<p>“Just dropping off a gift for him,” she said, sitting some boxes down on the coffee table. “Could you make sure he gets it?”</p>
<p>“Ughhh,” Mrs. Benson groaned in response, “just leave it there. I'll tell him when he gets in.”</p>
<p>“Thank you,” Sam respectfully said.</p>
<p>“Anything else?” Mrs. Benson asked.</p>
<p>“No, I'll leave you alone,” and she proceeded to walk away, but she stopped before reaching the doorway. “You were right…” she uttered, turning back to Mrs. Benson.</p>
<p>Glancing back at Sam, Mrs. Benson replied, “Excuse me?” in a confused tone.</p>
<p>“About me, and that I don't deserve Freddie,” Sam continued. “You were right.”</p>
<p>Mrs. Benson stood in shock, totally caught off guard by Sam.</p>
<p>“I swore to you that I would become the woman that does deserve him, but I proved you right to doubt me. I cracked at the first real sign of trouble between us, and for all I know, there was nothing wrong to begin with. I cracked under my own stress, and paranoia, and I said something really hurtful to him, and now I'm spending my Christmas alone because of it. I blame myself, guess I haven't exactly cleaned up my act as much as I claim. I'm sorry for the little argument we had a couple weeks ago, that was immature of me. I tend to bottle things up a lot, and it usually results in me losing my temper like I did. I need to be better when it comes to that type of stuff. But yeah, I'm sorry.”</p>
<p>Mrs. Benson didn't know what say, she just stood in silence as Sam spoke.</p>
<p>Taking a deep breath, Sam said her final words before leaving. “By the way, one the gifts there is for you,” she told her. “They’re not much, but I hope you guys like them. Anyway, Merry Christmas.”</p>
<p>And just like that, the sound of the apartment door closing echoed throughout the room. Mrs. Benson wasn't sure how to even react to what just happened, she was left speechless by Sam. Curious, she approached the coffee table and picked up the gift Sam had left for her. It was neatly packaged in a gift box with a removable top. Opening the box, she found a picture frame inside that was sitting face down. Pulling it out, she spun it around to reveal a picture of Sam and Freddie. It was the picture Mrs. Benson had taken of them when Sam accompanied Freddie on his families' yearly pumpkin patch trip in October. Mrs. Benson stared at the picture and was stunned by the genuine feeling of warmth it gave her. Then she noticed something else sitting in the box, a note…</p>
<p>
  <em>“I know we don't ever see eye to eye, but I really wish we could. I don't want to go through life knowing my boyfriend's mother doesn't like me. I know you have your reasons for why you think I'm no good, and honestly, you might even be right, but maybe one day we can move past our differences. Anyway, I hope you like this gift. I know I gave you a hard time the day you took this photo of us, but I'm glad I went with your family on this trip because I love this picture. I decided to have it blown up and framed for you. It's not much, but I thought maybe it could fill that spot in your picture display one day…if I earn it. Merry Christmas. – Sam”</em>
</p>
<p>Mrs. Benson held the photo up again, and amazingly enough, a smile crept its way on to her face. Perhaps she had unfairly been rough on Sam all this time, she thought. Maybe ‘lousy Puckett,' wasn't all that lousy after all. This girl clearly cared deeply for her son, and it was clear that her son saw something worthwhile in Sam, something Mrs. Benson might've selfishly been overlooking because of animosity she harbored from years ago. With a feeling of empathy, she sat the picture down and grabbed her phone to dial Freddie.</p>
<p>“Yeah Mom?” he answered.</p>
<p>“Freddie, where are you?” she asked him. “Are you still at Gibby's Christmas Bash thing?”</p>
<p>“No, I left early,” he told her.</p>
<p>“And where are you now?” she asked.</p>
<p>“Out,” he said bluntly.</p>
<p>“Out?” she questioned him. “Out where? It's Christmas Eve.”</p>
<p>“I'm just out, Mom,” he reiterated. Truthfully, he really wasn't anywhere. He had left the Groovy Smoothie because he wasn't in a party mood. He was honestly just out, driving around, and burning through gas.</p>
<p>“Well, I don't know where you are, or what 'out' means,” his mother replied, “but I think you should come home.”</p>
<p>“Why?” he asked.</p>
<p>“You do realize your girlfriend is across the hall alone on Christmas Eve right?” Mrs. Benson shockingly said to him.</p>
<p>Freddie was surprised to hear such a statement come from his mother. Was she actually displaying some compassion for Sam? He remained silent.</p>
<p>“She came by looking for you a few minutes ago,” she told him. “She dropped off a gift for you.”</p>
<p>“She did?” Freddie smiled upon hearing this, thinking about how they agreed to a 'no gifts,' rule, and that her nubby-self broke it anyway.</p>
<p>“Yes, now get your butt home mister!” she demanded of her son. “The poor girl is alone.”</p>
<p>“Mom? Where did this come from?” Freddie curiously asked, wondering why she suddenly seemed to care about Sam.</p>
<p>“It's the Holiday season,” she said, “we should all be a bit friendlier this time of year.”</p>
<p>“Is that so?” he said.</p>
<p>“And well, I've been thinking...” she hesitated.</p>
<p>“About what?”</p>
<p>“Maybe Samantha isn't all that bad,” Mrs. Benson uttered. “Maybe I've been hard on her.”</p>
<p>“So, you finally realize that huh? Finally coming around?” he said to his mother. “Took you long enough.”</p>
<p>“Fredward! This is not about me right now,” she shot back. “It's about her. You really should be ashamed of yourself for leaving her alone on Christmas Eve!”</p>
<p>“I wasn’t gonna leave her alone,” he argued, “I've just been putting off going to see her because of the argument we had.”</p>
<p>“Don't explain it to me,” she interrupted him. “She's the one you should be talking to.”</p>
<p>“I know Mom, I know,” he reiterated.</p>
<p>“Well get your butt home then! It's getting late! Go see her!”</p>
<p>“Alright, alright!” he replied. “I'll be home in a bit. Sheesh.” He hung up.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Meanwhile, across the hall…</strong>
</p>
<p>Sam had retreated to Spencer's place, alone, and exhausted. December had taken everything she had to give, and she was mentally spent. She turned off the apartment lights, and opted to let the Christmas lights that decorated the place illuminate the room. The dimly lit twinkle lights around the stairwell banister and hanging around the perimeter of the ceiling, coupled with the illuminated Christmas tree, created a peaceful vibe for her to relax in. She grabbed a Wahoo Punch from the fridge and plopped down on the couch. Kicking off her shoes, she flung her legs up onto the couch and laid back while staring at the ceiling. “Merry Christmas, I guess,” she uttered to herself.</p>
<p>“Merry Christmas,” a familiar voice suddenly replied to her. She quickly sat up and turned to investigate who it was, and wouldn’t you know it? Mitch came sneaking out from under the giant Santa hat again.</p>
<p>“Mitch?” she said.</p>
<p>“Who else?” he sarcastically replied. “So, did you take my advice and spread any holiday cheer to others?”</p>
<p>“As a matter of fact, I did,” she told him, leaning her forearms onto her knees as she sat on the couch.</p>
<p>“And?” he asked throwing his hands up slightly.</p>
<p>“It helped,” she smiled.</p>
<p>“See, told ya,” he gloated.</p>
<p>“I still can't believe I listened to a random man who claims to be an angel though,” she joked.</p>
<p>“Hey!”</p>
<p>“I'm kidding,” she told him. “Relax.”</p>
<p>“So you do believe then?” he asked.</p>
<p>“I guess I do,” she relented. “Carly texted the morning after I talked to you last, and basically said that she knew I wasn't doing well. After I read that I figured something here had to be real.”</p>
<p>“I knew you'd come around,” he told her.</p>
<p>“Or I'm just crazy, haven't ruled that out yet, honestly,” she joked.</p>
<p>Mitch laughed. “Well, I'm glad you were able to find at least a little bit of holiday cheer,” he said.</p>
<p>Sam smiled. “I still haven't spoken to Freddie though,” she told him as she threw herself back into the couch, laying down again. “Wish he was here,” she uttered, and few seconds of silence followed. “Mitch?” Sam said, still looking up at the ceiling, when suddenly it felt as if a subtle breeze blew through the apartment. “What the heck was that?!” Sam quickly sat back up and noticed Mitch had vanished, again. “See when he randomly disappears like that, it makes think I really am crazy,” she joked to herself. “Whatev,” she shrugged and laid her head back down. Shortly after that she was dozing off under the dim Christmas lights.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Chapter X: “B-304”</strong>
</p>
<p>It was just past 11'pm when Freddie stepped off the elevator to the eighth floor of Bushwell with a little gift bag in hand. He strolled down the corridor to apartment 8-C and went to enter, but the door was locked. “Oh, butter!” he quietly said under his breath. Then suddenly the door behind him cracked open, and his mother stood in the doorway of 8-D.</p>
<p>“She left this for you,” she handed her son the gift left by Sam. Freddie took the box from her. “Was it really necessary to shut her out for several days over a little argument?” she asked him.</p>
<p>“Maybe I was a little over-dramatic,” he told his mother. “It's just that I worked so hard for her all month long and she...”</p>
<p>“I'm aware of how hard you worked Freddie,” she interrupted. “She's the one who doesn't know.”</p>
<p>Freddie looked down at his feet.</p>
<p>“Is that it?” she asked him, pointing to the little gift bag he had.</p>
<p>He nodded in confirmation.</p>
<p>“Well go give it to her,” she replied. “I'm sure she'll be relieved when she sees it, and when she sees you.”</p>
<p>“Spencer's door is locked though,” he said.</p>
<p>“Open your present from her,” his mother said before shutting her door, and leaving Freddie in the hall.</p>
<p>“Mom!” he tried respond, but the door had already closed. Turning back to face the door of 8-C, he glanced down at the gift his mother just handed him. Opening the box, what he found was the same gift that his mother had received earlier, the picture of the two of them from the pumpkin patch. Much like she had given his mother, his box also included a note…</p>
<p>
  <em>“I know we said no gifts, but I couldn't help it, I had to get you something (don't worry, it didn't burn a hole in my pocket ;p). I love the picture of us that you keep on your desk at school, but I look so awkward in it! I thought maybe you could put that embarrassing pic of me away if I got you a new one. At least I don't look like a nub-head in this one lol. Anyway, hope you like it. I'm sorry for being a whazz-bag last week, I hope you can forgive me. I left my spare key to Spencer's underneath the plant outside in the corner if you felt like coming over, but I understand if you don't. Either way, Merry Christmas. – Sam”</em>
</p>
<p>Smiling at the picture, he glanced over at the plant in the corner. He put the picture and note back into the box and walked over to the plant. Moving it aside slightly, he found the key Sam had mentioned. Without hesitation, he immediately when back to the door and put it right in the lock, and quietly entered the apartment where he saw his beautiful girlfriend passed out on the couch. He smiled, it had been too long since he had seen her. Aside from the spat they got into the previous week, which hardly counted, he practically hadn't seen her for an entire month. He missed her. Underneath the subtle hue of the Christmas lights, he adored her in her slumber for a minute. One of her arms dangled off the couch, and she must've shifted around while she slept because her head was awkwardly positioned halfway off the pillow. Walking over to the couch, he put his gift bag on the coffee table, as well as the gift box from her. He then proceeded to sit down on the floor beside her, and grabbed the hand of the arm that dangled from the couch. With his other free hand he poked her arm and whispered, “Hey.” She shifted her head slightly but did not wake. “Sam,” he said her name, and she seemingly started stirring, but still did not wake. He chuckled as he heard weird sleep grumbles from her that did not translate into any real words. He then leaned forward and kissed her cheek, and the sudden contact of his lips on her skin managed to knock her out of her deep slumber.</p>
<p>Her head slightly lifted from the pillow, and her eyes cracked open slightly. “Freddie?” she said, still disoriented and rubbing her eyes with her wrist.</p>
<p>“Merry Christmas,” he said gently as her eyes fully opened.</p>
<p>She slowly gained consciousness, and once she had her perception of reality she gasped in happiness when she realized who was in front of her. “Freddie!” she sat up and threw herself into his arms with her legs awkwardly still situated on the couch.</p>
<p>“Whoa!” he exclaimed as he basically caught her diving off the couch.</p>
<p>“Oh my god! Freddie!” she held him tightly. “I'm so sorry for what I said! Please don't break up with me! I can't lose you!” she spewed out sentence after sentence in rapid pace.</p>
<p>“Sam! Sam! Sam!” he repeated several times, grabbing her by the shoulders to calm her down. “I'm not breaking up with you.”</p>
<p>“You're not?” she asked, settling down from the shock of his presence.</p>
<p>“No,” he chuckled. “Why would you think I was gonna break up with you?”</p>
<p>“Cause of what happened,” she uttered, “cause of what I said.”</p>
<p>“Babe, we had a fight, it happens,” he shrugged. “I wasn't gonna break up with you over it. Don't be ridiculous.”</p>
<p>“Well, you seemed pretty upset,” she replied.</p>
<p>“We've had fights before. Heck, our relationship was built on us fighting,” he joked.</p>
<p>“Yeah, but never that bad,” she replied bluntly. “I really thought I was gonna lose you. It scared me.”</p>
<p>With a smile he grabbed her hand, “Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere.”</p>
<p>With an emotional smile, she threw her arms around him again and hugged him tightly. They embraced for several minutes, and honestly, Sam would've held on forever if she could have. </p>
<p>“Hey, move over,” he said gently, so he could join her on the couch. She adjusted her awkwardly positioned body to sit on the couch with him properly. “Guess it's my turn to apologize for leaving you in the dark all that time.”</p>
<p>“No, no, don't apologize,” she interrupted. “It was selfish of me to act the way I did. I know how hard you work, and I should've been more understanding of it.”</p>
<p>“No,” Freddie argued back. “You were right to be a little whazzed. I've always made time for us, and I blew it off the past few weeks without giving you a real explanation.”</p>
<p>“But I understand,” she insisted, “work, and school, and all that chiz is a lot to handle.”</p>
<p>“True,” he agreed, “but it was more than 'work, and school' that was eating up my time this month.”</p>
<p>“What do you mean?” she asked, remembering how uneasy she had felt all month.</p>
<p>“Let's just say you weren't wrong when you said you thought I was hiding something...”</p>
<p>A nervous, and suspicious look manifest on her face. “Should I be worried?” her voice almost cracked.</p>
<p>“No, don't worry, it's not bad,” he grabbed her hand once more, “I promise.”</p>
<p>“Then what the heck was going on?” she asked anxiously. “I'm practically a wreck here,” she poked fun at how pathetic she had been.</p>
<p>He chuckled. “Here, let me just show you,” he leaned up and grabbed the small gift bag off the table that she hadn't noticed yet. “Merry Christmas,” he handed it to her.</p>
<p>“For me?” she asked as she grabbed the bag. “I thought we said no gifts this year?” </p>
<p>“Hey you broke that rule too,” he cutely argued, “and thank you, by the way. I loved it.”</p>
<p>She smiled.</p>
<p>“Well, open yours!” he said excitedly.</p>
<p>“Okay!” She curiously dug through the tissue paper that was stuffed into the small bag in search of whatever his present was. Freddie eagerly looked on in suspense. “What's this?” she asked as she pulled a key with a tag that read <em>'B-304'</em> on it. She looked up at him and noticed a smirk on his face. As she held the key it suddenly clicked in her head what it was, and she gasped again, placing her hand up to her mouth. “Not-uh!” she said in disbelief, “Dude! Forreal?!”</p>
<p>Freddie's smirk grew larger as she pieced together the situation.</p>
<p>“Is this?!”</p>
<p>“The key to our new apartment,” he finished her sentence for her.</p>
<p>“Oh my god!” Sam could hardly contain herself at the revelation, once again throwing herself into him. “No way!” she continued, “We really have our own place now?!”</p>
<p>“Mhmmm,” Freddie replied with grin. “We move in the day after New Year's,” he revealed.</p>
<p>“That soon?!”</p>
<p>“That soon,” he confirmed.</p>
<p>Sam couldn't believe it. They had been working towards this for so long that it almost seemed like it would never happen. “Wait, so this is why?”</p>
<p>“Yep. Why I was 'so busy',” he confirmed. “I had to go to the apartment a whole bunch of times to sort out the details and what not. There was a lot of running back and forth on those weekends. I wanted it to be a surprise, so I didn't tell you.”</p>
<p>“What about last week?” she asked, “This was that 'errand' you were talking about.”</p>
<p>“Yep,” he nodded. “I had to stop home first because I needed some pieces of ID to sign the paperwork. That's when you caught me leaving. That's why I wouldn't tell you what I was doing,” he explained.</p>
<p>“So, I'm just a big, paranoid, idiot is what you’re telling me?” she joked.</p>
<p>“You're also kinda cute though, so it's okay,” he joked back.</p>
<p>She laughed.</p>
<p>“I'm sorry I worried you so much though, I feel really bad about it,” he said to her. “I didn't mean to put a bunch of bad thoughts in your head, it just really was time consuming. Between trying to get that done, still going to work, and the end of the semester happening, I just couldn't find any time to myself. Sorry for the lack of communication.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, you really put me through it you nub-head,” she joked. “This is the best gift ever though, so I'll let it slide.”</p>
<p>“Good,” he smiled as she cuddled up next to him.</p>
<p>“Thanks for not leaving me alone,” she shyly said, nestled up next to him.</p>
<p>“I was never gonna,” he assured her.</p>
<p>She then looked up at him with a smile.</p>
<p>“What?” he asked.</p>
<p>“You're not a bad boyfriend,” she told him. “I just need you to know that.”</p>
<p>He smiled back.</p>
<p>As the couple sat on the couch together underneath the dim Christmas lights, Sam noticed a little angel peeking out from underneath Spencer’s Santa hat again; Freddie remained oblivious. Her phone then buzzed and she glanced at it to see a text from an unrecognized number that read…</p>
<p>
  <em>“Merry Christmas, Sam.”</em>
</p>
<p>She looked back at Mitch and smiled before he retreated back underneath the Santa hat, most likely vanishing.</p>
<p>Glancing at Freddie again, she said, “Hey, quick question. Am I crazy?”</p>
<p>“Are you crazy?” he repeated her.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” she said, “Am I?”</p>
<p>“Definitely,” Freddie jokingly told her.</p>
<p>She chuckled and playfully rolled her eyes. “Gee, thanks nub-head,” she chuckled as she rested her head onto his shoulder.</p>
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